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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23790049">A Tail of Two Cats</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nanenna/pseuds/Nanenna'>Nanenna</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Undertale (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Barrier Broken Early, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Swapfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Twins, Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Big Brother Sans (Undertale), Cats, Fluff and Humor, Good W. D. Gaster, Gratuitous Japanese, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Sex, Injury Recovery, Japanese Mythology &amp; Folklore, M/M, Major Character Injury, Minor Character Death, Mpreg, Parent W. D. Gaster, Patchwork AU, Recovery, Scientist W. D. Gaster, Shapeshifting, Skeleton Pregnancy (Undertale), Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Trauma, Underfell Sans (Undertale), Underswap Sans (Undertale), Younger Brother Sans (Undertale), nekomimi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 22:15:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>28,011</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23790049</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nanenna/pseuds/Nanenna</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a pretty mundane event: a skeleton happens upon an injured cat and after taking the poor thing in for medical help ends up adopting them.</p><p>And then it happens again.</p><p>Two cats found by two different monsters not far from each other, both obviously abandoned by the same negligent owner. Well clearly after they recover from their injuries they're going to have to be re-introduced to each other! But in the mean time these two bumbling owners are going to find out just how unprepared they are for the furry new additions to their families.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sans/Sans (Undertale)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>158</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>201</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/15092282">You Gotta be Kitten Me</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/HickoryDox/pseuds/HickoryDox">HickoryDox</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spazzexe/pseuds/Spazzexe">Spazzexe</a>.
        </li>
        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/17021976">Of Bites and Lust</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldWriter/pseuds/EmeraldWriter">EmeraldWriter</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarpath/pseuds/Scarpath">Scarpath</a>.
        </li>
        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/763521">Underfell</a> by Vic the Underfella.
        </li>
        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/763524">Underswap</a> by Morty.
        </li>

    </ul><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Warning: I am not a vet nor have I been to a vet in years (haven’t had a pet in years) so there’s going to be a lot of inaccuracies in this, some out of ignorance and some out of narrative convenience.  Please don’t expect an actual vet visit to be like this. Also while it’s very, very admirable of people to adopt abused, neglected, or otherwise unwanted animals it’s very, very important that a home be ready to receive an animal before that adoption. Pets are a big responsibility and I encourage anyone who wants to and is able to do so to yes! Go to a shelter and adopt a pet! But please also be responsible and do your research before bringing a new animal into your home.<br/><br/>This fic is rated M for eventual sexual content as well as past violence and current injuries, though nothing explicit.<br/><br/>On a lighter note I’ve chosen to twist a bit of canon. While in game whether food needs to be chewed or just zoops right into your body depends on how the food has been made, I’ve chosen to keep with the inspiring material and have how food is digested be dependent on the digestive system rather than the food. That is all monsters just absorb food and all humans have to chew and swallow their food, though how magical the food is will also have some affect. There will be some background Alphdyne, and lots of characters from several AUs all running around in one universe together. Everything else will be explained in the story as we go, so here we go! I hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Blue hummed to himself as he packed his bag at the end of the day. Oh he could stay here and keep grading essays, but there was no way he would finish them all tonight so he may as well go home and make himself a nice dinner before getting back to it. He slung the now full messenger bag over his head, locked the classroom door behind him, and headed towards the teacher parking lot. It was a bit far, practically halfway to the park next to the school, but on the bright side students were less likely to try stealing a spot.</p><p>Blue’s blissful planning over what he would have for dinner was interrupted by a commotion of some kind, he stopped and looked around. Half hidden behind one of the buildings was a group of students. He sighed to himself, it was Friday so there was a very high chance some poor freshman was being harassed.</p><p>“What’s going on here?” Blue asked very loudly as he approached the students.</p><p>All of the kids turned to stare at him, most with guilty looks on their faces. One of the less guilty looking students sneered, “Nunya!”</p><p>“School’s out,” one of the other kids said defensively. “AND it’s the weekend.”</p><p>“You’re still on school property,” Blue said sternly. “So whatever mischief you want to get up to take it somewhere else. Or better yet: don’t.”</p><p>Just then a pitiful, weak yowl warbled up from the middle of the group.</p><p>“Oh my goodness, are you hurting an animal?!” Blue rushed into the group of teenagers to find one of them holding down a cat. The poor thing looked miserable, staring up at Blue with one large, wide, dripping eye, the other looked swollen shut. “What did you do?!”</p><p>“We found it like that!”</p><p>“Blue pushed the student away from the cat and scooped the poor thing up. “You lot should be ashamed of yourselves! Torturing a poor, defenseless animal like this!”</p><p>“We didn’t even do anything!”</p><p>“You weren’t asking for help either, which means you weren’t planning anything good. Now get going before I decide to call all your parents.”</p><p>The students all grumbled, but they also quickly got out of his way. Once he was sure they were well and truly leaving, Blue tried to shift the cat to get a better look at them. The poor thing clung tight, face buried into the crook of Blue’s neck. At first he had assumed they were one of the many stray cats that lived off the garbage students left all over the school, but one of those would be scrambling to escape.</p><p>“Hey little guy, you must be pretty scared, huh? Let’s just see if you have a collar.” He managed to shift the cat into a one armed hold and felt over their neck, hidden under long, matted fur was indeed a collar. It was dull and dirty, but looked like it used to be a bright, garish pink, it also had a few little rhinestones still clinging to it. He managed to get a hold of the tag and pull it into view, it gave a faint, sad tinkle as he did. “Rumpleteazer, huh? That uh, that sure is a name.” Alas, no phone number or address attached. Who would go to all the trouble to put a collar <b>and</b> a tag on a cat that didn’t have some form of contact information?</p><p>Blue sighed, well the poor dear needed medical help no matter what, and the only way he had to get them there was by car so he may as well start with that. “It’s okay, little kitty, you’re going to be okay.” He gently ran his hand down the cat’s back as he restarted the walk to his car. He had the door open before he realized there would be a problem, normally he would take his messenger bag off and drop it on the passenger seat, but the strap across his chest was currently under the poor scared cat.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Kitty, but I kind of need you to let go for just a minute,” Blue soothed as he carefully tried to untangle Rumpleteazer’s claws from his shirt. They made the most heart breaking sound and stared pitifully up at Blue. “Sorry,” Blue said in his most apologetic voice, “I just need to get the strap out…” He managed to somehow slip the strap over his head without dropping the cat. The moment it was out of the way poor Rumpleteazer was clinging to him again, trembling slightly in his arms. Blue tossed the bag on the passenger seat and slipped into his car. Now he had to figure out how to get himself buckled in with a clearly traumatized cat still clinging to him like their life depended on it.</p><p>No, the buckle could wait, Blue still had to find someplace to take Rumpleteazer. He pulled out his phone, after a quick search he was holding it up to the side of his skull as it rang.</p><p>“Deltarune Animal Hospital, how can I help you?” a bored, nasally voice asked with a slow drawl.</p><p>“Yes, hello, hi! Um… I found an injured cat, do you uh… do you do emergencies?”</p><p>“We do take walk-ins, let me just check…” there was the distant clacking of hard fingers on a keyboard, “you’re in luck, we have an opening for the next little while, we should be able to take you when you arrive. Name?”</p><p>“Blue Swapson. Or… wait, do you mean me or the cat?”</p><p>“Your name for now, we’ll worry about the rest when you get here. But can you give me a quick description of the injury?”</p><p>“Well their eye seems injured, but I don’t think that’s everything.”</p><p>“Alright, I’ll let the vet know.”</p><p>“Okay, thank you.”</p><p>“See you soon.”</p><p>Blue ended the call, then returned to the clinic’s webpage. There was a map on it, Blue memorized the route, then set the phone on a little holder attached to his dash so he could double check it if needed. Then came the hard part: getting the cat to let him buckle up. He didn’t think it would be a good idea to drive with a scared, possibly wild animal clinging to his chest, but he didn’t think he could get them to move over to the passenger seat either.</p><p>“Okay Rumple… uh… okay Kitty, how about you just move down to my lap? Wouldn’t that be nice? Don’t cats like to curl up in people’s laps?” He patted his lap in the hopes it would get the cat to move down from his chest, they just pressed their face into his shirt. Blue tried not to think about all the slime oozing from the cat’s face, tried not to think about it getting all over his shirt. He liked this shirt, darn it! “I can’t drive like this, Kitty,” he tried to cajole as he gingerly pried their claws out. “Just down a little, you can sit in my lap for the drive, there’s a good kitty.” He pet the cat a few times once they finally let themself slide down into his lap. They pressed their face into his belly, but he did manage to finally get his seat belt on. With a sigh of relief he started the car and was on his way.</p><p>The vet clinic really was close, only a few minutes later Blue was pulling into a strip mall parking lot and parking his car in front of an unassuming business with a delta rune as the logo, only the circle had been replaced with a paw print. Blue thought that was rather cute. The moment Blue was unbuckled the cat climbed back up onto his chest, face hidden in the crook of his neck again. That was alright, it would make getting the poor thing into the clinic all the easier. He went inside to find an empty waiting room, a reception desk inset in the far wall of the small room, and at that desk sat a bored looking skeleton with a long face and wicked looking teeth.</p><p>“Hello,” Blue greeted cheerfully, “I’m Blue, I just called?”</p><p>“Yeah, you’re at the right place,” the secretary drawled. “And the lump of fur in your arms must be the patient.”</p><p>“Yes, they seem pretty scared.”</p><p>“No carrier?”</p><p>“No, no, I don’t have one. I just found them like this, I think some students were harassing the poor thing.”</p><p>The secretary, Hickory according to a placard on the desk, nodded along. “Well just take a seat for a minute, I’ll let Nereid know you’re here.” Hickory stood up and headed into the back.</p><p>Rather than move Blue just looked around him, taking in his surroundings. The floor was linoleum and covered in scratches, there wasn’t a plant in sight, and there didn’t seem to be any magazines or even a play area like Blue had grown accustomed to waiting rooms usually having. Screwed to the wall on one side of the desk was a plastic container full of rows and rows of pamphlets, presumably free for any pet owner to take. On the other side were photos of the staff, all three of them. Easily recognized was the receptionist, though according to the information under the photo he was also certified to handle animals and assist the vet as needed. He got so far as looking at the pictures of another skeleton with a much rounder face but equally sharp teeth and a blue, scaly monster with red hair and sharp yellow teeth when the door to the back opened and standing in it was the very monster from the photo. Their eyes narrowed as they looked Blue up and down, then they boldly walked right up to him.</p><p>“I’m Dr. Nereid, I hear you brought us a charity case?”</p><p>“They have a collar, though it just has a name on it. Rumple… stiltskin?”</p><p>“We’ll be scanning for a chip, it’s part of standard procedure.” Dr. Nereid grabbed the cat’s face and turned them to look right at them. “Oof, that’s at least two infections right there. Well, we’ll do the best we can. If Kitty has any luck we can get in contact with their owner and we can actually treat them.”</p><p>“If not I’ll pay,” Blue offered hastily.</p><p>“Well aren’t you a sweet one,” Nereid said with a guffaw. “Alright, let’s go see how bad off ya are, punk!” They gently pulled the cat, who groaned but did nothing else to protest, from Blue’s arms and carried them off to the back.</p><p>“Don’t mind Nereid,” said Hickory, back at his spot at the desk, “she’s just like that with everyone. Real good with animals though. Also the bathroom’s right over there, ya might wanna wash your hands.”</p><p>“That’s a good idea, thank you!” Blue hurried to the bathroom. After washing his hands and hopelessly dabbing at the new stains on his shirt, not to mention staring sadly at the decorative new holes and snags in it, he sat down to wait. With nothing better to do than twiddle his thumbs he started looking around again. The walls were covered in bright, informative posters, a painting of a bone, and an artistic photo of a goldfish. As he was reading over the second poster he suddenly realized he could be reading essays instead, but before he could act on that brilliant idea he noticed movement by the desk.</p><p>The round faced skeleton, Ash according to the photo on the wall, walked up to the other side of the desk from Blue. He was incredibly short, standing he was only about the same height as Hickory was while sitting. He slapped something onto Hickory’s computer screen. “There, now find the owner.”</p><p>“Sure thing, bro.”</p><p>Ash turned and left without another word. Hickory started typing and clicking his mouse furiously. Blue took a deep breath, “Excuse me, will this take long?”</p><p>“It can, depends on what the owner’s instructions were when registering the chip.”</p><p>“Ah, that makes sense. Well then, I’ll be right back.” Blue popped out to his car and grabbed his bag, by the time he got back Hickory was tapping his fingers and humming absently into the phone. Blue sat down and pulled the first stack of essays from his bag, he tried to not listen in on the conversation as he began grading. Key word: tried.</p><p>“Alright, thank you very much for your help,” Hickory said, he paused, then there was the sound of phone keys being pressed. “Hello, I’m Hickory with the Deltarune Animal Hospital and I’m calling for Richard Dickerson?”</p><p>Blue tried not to laugh, one should never laugh at a person’s name! Unless they had legally changed their name, if someone chose a silly name for themself then clearly they wanted it laughed at.</p><p>“Oh, is that so, I’m very sorry to hear that… Yes, I’m sure it was very traumatizing, but the reason I called is because someone found a cat and the chip identified Mr. Dickerson as the owner-”</p><p>Hickory pulled the phone away from his skull, no surprise why as a sharp, shrill voice shrieking so loud Blue could hear it from across the room came blasting out of the speaker. “<sub>… can’t believe those nasty creatures are still alive! … … won’t have it... … cost … fortune! Dick paid through the nose for… … … through the nose! … swindler … … … lied through his teeth! … … … Well Dick’s gone now … and I won’t have it! … … horrid things … my home... refuse … … any damages they caused. … … them down … be done with it!</sub>”</p><p>There was a click. Hickory put the phone back to his skull, “Hello? Ma’am? Ma’am?” He sighed and put the phone down, the looked up at Blue, “So…”</p><p>“Rumpelstiltskin can come home with me,” Blue said firmly.</p><p>“Rumpleteazer,” Hickory corrected with a wry grin. “Though we can change that if Nereid doesn’t recommend uh… putting her out of her misery.” Hickory spat out the last few words in a sheepish rush. “Let me just take Rumpleteazer’s,” Hickory had the distinct look of someone biting into a lemon as he said the name, “information to the doc and we’ll let you know the diagnosis soon.”</p><p>Blue nodded, then went back to grading papers as Hickory left for the back room. He calmly continued to read essays, underlining sentences, correcting misspellings, and applying smiley face stickers as needed, while time seemed to drag by. Hickory had already returned to his desk and another customer with a small dog on a leash had come in by the time Ash marched into the waiting room and right up to Blue.</p><p>“Mr. Swapson?”</p><p>Blue set aside his papers and stood up, “Yes?”</p><p>“My name is Ash, I’m the vet tech here, it’s nice to meet you.” He held out a hand woodenly, like he was just doing something because he’d been trained to rather than because he wanted to. Blue took the hand and gave it a quick, firm shake. “First of all thank you very much for seeing an animal in need and choosing to help.”</p><p>“Of course! I couldn’t just ignore the poor girl.”</p><p>“And that was one of the things I came out here to talk to you about, the cat you brought in is actually male.”</p><p>“Okay,” Blue responded, confused why the cat’s gender had Ash looking so grim. Or maybe that was just his face.</p><p>“I don’t think you understand, physical animals don’t get to custom order their ah… their parts. They’re stuck with whatever they’re born with. Rumpleteazer’s medical history says female without a doubt, but this cat is male. Also Rumpleteazer should be twenty-three years old.”</p><p>Blue just nodded and looked at Ash blankly.</p><p>Ash sighed, “Most cats live to around fifteen years, some breeds can live as long as twenty, a cat making it all the way to twenty-three is very rare and the cat would be positively ancient and certainly wouldn’t survive living on the streets. The cat you brought in is young and… well not healthy, but he seems robust enough. We believe he is somewhere between four and six years old.”</p><p>“So what you’re telling me is… this cat… isn’t Rumpleteazer?”</p><p>“It’s the only thing that makes sense. We think someone found Rumpleteazer’s chip and collar and put them in and on this cat. Probably an attempt to scam a reward out of the owner, likely the plan and cat were abandoned when they found out the owner had died.”</p><p>“That’s horrible!” Blue didn’t want to think about how that could have happened.</p><p>“There is a bright side, since this isn’t Rumpleteazer we don’t have to abide by the wishes of Rumpleteazer’s owner.”</p><p>“Oh! That’s great! I could hear some of what she was saying on the phone, I don’t think she wanted anything good.”</p><p>“So my brother informed us,” Ash said disdainfully. “So that leaves us with this unknown cat, you already offered to adopt him?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Then as his owner I’ll be going over his injuries and the treatment plan with you.” Ash pulled out a tablet and started listing everything off, along with the attached price tags. The list of injuries was daunting, poor Kitty had a damaged ear that was listed as an old injury they couldn’t do anything about now, a damaged eye that had become infected, an upper respiratory infection, several wounds on his body theorized to be from fights with other animals, two of which would need stitches, fleas, dehydration, and malnutrition. “In short,” Ash finished up, “everything we expect to find wrong with a cat living on the streets.”</p><p>“Goodness, that all sounds awful! Will he be okay?”</p><p>“If you approve his treatment, yes. He should make a full recovery and still have a long life ahead of him.”</p><p>Blue nodded, “Do it.”</p><p>Ash grinned broadly at Blue with his sharp, even teeth. “Excellent, we’ll get right on that. Hickory will take your payment information, since this is technically a rescue you’ll be given the rescue discount.”</p><p>“Thank you, I really appreciate that.”</p><p>Ash gave a curt nod, then marched back into the back. After giving Hickory his credit card, and what a chunk of change that was even after the discount, and all of his contact information he was basically ordered to go get himself some dinner while the vets worked. By the time he came back there were two people in the waiting room, one with a gray dog sitting at their feet. Hickory waved Blue over to the desk.</p><p>“Just in time, they just put uh… say, you wanna give him a new name?”</p><p>“Isn’t it cruel to change an animal’s name?” Blue was pretty sure he’d heard a story about a writer inheriting a cat with an unfortunate name and refusing to change it for that reason.</p><p>“Except we’re like 97.5% sure this cat isn’t Rumpleteazer,” Hickory made the eating-a-lemon face again, “so clearly that’s not his name.”</p><p>“Oh! That’s true! But… hmm… do I have to name him right now?”</p><p>“Not right this minute, it would just make the paperwork easier.”</p><p>“I think I’ll wait a little, then.”</p><p>“Cool. Oh, and don’t worry about the chip for now, this is a pretty weird situation so we’ll be working with the chip registry to get this sorted out. Hopefully Rumpleteazer’s owner will let us just keep the chip, it’d be a real pain to replace it. Anyway, Kitty’s all finished, wait here a sec and Nereid’ll be out to explain his meds to you.”</p><p>Dr. Nereid did indeed burst through the door mere moments later, a cardboard pet carrier tucked against her body and a plastic bag swinging wildly from one arm. Blue took the carrier and cautiously peeked inside to see a cat sprawled out on their side, one leg wrapped in bandages, a plastic cone hiding their face from view except for a long tongue sticking out.</p><p>“He did wake up earlier, but he’s still quite groggy from the anesthetic. The cone’s to keep him from messing with his stitches or bandages or his eye. So we have about a week’s worth of medicine in here-”</p><p>“Excuse me, I think this is the wrong cat,” Blue cut in.</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>“The cat I brought in was gray and black.” The cat inside the box had a cream colored body, though the legs and tail were still black. The fur was also too short, but Ash had informed him that a good shave was step one of treatment for any stray long hair cat.</p><p>“Oh, right, that. They do that, he’s at least part Siamese and their fur changes color with the temperature. The warmer it is the lighter it is, and right next to the body is the warmest it gets.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s cool, right? Anyway, you need to know about these.” Dr. Nereid went on to explain what each medicine did and how to administer it, assuring him that the instructions were on each one as well in case he forgot. “There’s enough in there for a week and some change, but I’m gonna need to see him again in about a week to make sure he’s healing fine and may need to prescribe an extra round of antibiotics. Normally we’d also want to schedule getting him snipped but you really lucked out, he already was.”</p><p>“That’s… good?”</p><p>“Yeah, no kittens running around, the pounds are already plenty full without adding a new litter of kittens every few months. Anyway, he won’t need any more meds tonight, he was under anesthetic so he will probably be groggy and sleepy for a while. Anesthetic can make them nauseous too, so only feed him a little at a time. I popped a couple cans in there to tide you over until you can hit the pet store and get more. You got a cereal box at home? Good, you can cut the side off and make a pretty nifty temporary litter box. There’s a small bag of litter in there too. And THESE are all the pamphlets about owning a cat we have, so you don’t have to worry about digging through that WALL over there. You can call us during regular operating hours if you have any questions. Good luck and see you next week!” With a very enthusiastic pat on the back, Dr. Nereid disappeared back into the innards of the clinic.</p><p>Blue turned to Hickory with a wry grin as he set about making next week’s appointment, it seemed teacher was the one with assigned reading to do for a change.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The second cat is found.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Since it’s a tale of two cats I thought it best to just get both cats up at the start, so have chapter 2 right TF now! Probably not going to happen again. But hey! Here’s kitty number two.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sans groaned heavily, two full garbage bags in his hands. Papyrus had stopped by for an impromptu visit, and Sans normally loved those! His brother was the coolest, even if he would never tell the goober so to his face, older brother’s prerogative and all that. But today Papyrus had huffed and put his hands on his hips while giving Sans the Disappointed In You Glare <sup>TM</sup> that he had perfected over the years and declared Sans’s apartment unfit for intelligent life, then promptly forced Sans to start cleaning up. This was not how he wanted to spend his Sunday morning, but he also didn’t want to say no to Papyrus. Taking out the garbage was kind of a pain, but it was better than scrubbing crusty dishes or the unused toilet. Especially if he went the long way, walking all the way down the stairs and around the back to the dumpster.</p><p>He was starting to rethink his plan halfway there. It was such a pain! He comforted himself with the fact that at least he’d be going back up the stairs with empty hands. He finally got to the dumpster and used a bit of magic to chuck the garbage. There was a screech and the sound of something scrabbling around inside the dumpster. Probably a raccoon, but no hypothesis should ever go unchecked. He shortcut to stand against the wall just above the dumpster, using a bit of gravity magic to keep himself standing upright sideways, far enough above the dumpster to stay out of the way of any marauding wildlife. Whatever was in there seemed trapped under the bags he’d just thrown in, and that was pretty unneighborly of Sans. He waved a hand to nudge the bags aside.</p><p>A house cat hopped out of the dumpster and crouched right on the rim, tail twitching as it looked back and forth, a bell loudly chiming with every jerk of its head. Sans noted a pink collar standing out against the uneven gray and darker gray coat. Well it seemed someone was missing Whiskers, or maybe Whiskers just got into trash for fun. Sans picked it up by the Soul and pulled it up to get a better look. The cat yowled and flailed, feet and tail spinning wildly as it twisted and scrabbled for purchase.</p><p>“Calm down, Pussy, just gonna cal your owner and tell them you’ve been a little trash panda.”</p><p>The cat hissed at Sans’s voice, then petered off as it looked up at him, head tilted to the side like a confused dog. That made his job easier. Sans brought the cat closer and reached for the collar. The cat grabbed his hands with its claws and chomped down. Sans grunted, for how wicked those chompers looked its bite didn’t actually hurt all that much.</p><p>Sans raised a brow, “You done?”</p><p>The cat let go, but the look it was giving him could best be described as a pout.</p><p>Sans went digging back into the matted fur, noting that the collar seemed to have a few pearl beads glued to it. He finally got the tag into view, “Mungojerrie? Eh, you didn’t choose that name, poor thing.” He turned the tag over, nothing. Well that sure was useful. “Welp! In for a G or whatever.” He took a shortcut, pulling the cat along with him into his own living room. The cat seemed disoriented, whether from the sudden change in gravity or scenery Sans wasn’t sure, he carried it by the Soul into the kitchen. “Hey bro, made a new friend at the dumpster.”</p><p>Papyrus sighed heavily, “I sincerely hope you don’t mean some wild animal that’s better off left outside.” He set aside the dish he’d been in the middle of scrubbing and slowly turned around. Sans could tell the moment he laid orbits on the cat, they fell to half mast and Papyrus leveled the Disappointed In You Glare <sup>TM</sup> at Sans for the second time that day.</p><p>Sans shrugged, “Technically not a wild animal, it’s got a collar.” Papyrus reached for the cat’s neck. “Watch out, Kitty also has a bite.”</p><p>“I’m wearing gloves,” Papyrus said as he held up his sopping wet, thick rubber gloves. “Also if the cat bit you you should wash wherever they bit.”</p><p>“It’s not even bleeding.”</p><p>“Wash your hands, Sans!”</p><p>Sans sighed and rolled his eyes, but he went over to the sink and started it up anyway.</p><p>“Mungojerrie? That certainly is a very real and sensible name.”</p><p>Sans snorted.</p><p>“Where’s the rest? Don’t these things normally have a way to contact the owner at least?”</p><p>Sans shrugged, “No idea.”</p><p>“Well if they were digging around in the garbage then they’re probably hungry.”</p><p>Sans heard the wet sound of rubber gloves being pulled off. As he was drying his own hands he heard Papyrus dig around in the cupboards. Sans heard a quiet sound of triumph and looked over to see Papyrus holding a take out bag from Grillby’s. “Oh man, not that! I was saving that!”</p><p>“It’s going to a good cause.” Papyrus pulled down a plate and dumped the contents of the bag onto it. Then he gingerly tried to unwrap the half eaten burger without actually touching the burger or the fries around it. Once done he set it down on Sans’s kitchen table. Sans took the hint and gently let Mungo down on the chair the plate had been placed in front of. The cat looked around itself warily, but the siren call of greasy food seemed to be too much for the little thing. It stood up on its hind legs and braced its front paw on the table as it delicately started eating, the other paw it kept tucked in close to its body.</p><p>Papyrus beamed, “There, see? Poor little thing was just hungry.”</p><p>“You know you just made Grillby a new fan, right?”</p><p>Papyrus’s eyes bugged out of his skull, “No!!!”</p><p>“Look at ‘em go, a real grease enthusiast.”</p><p>“I’m sorry, Mungojerrie, you don’t deserve to eat that rubbish. Next time I’ll bring you a plate of my famous spaghetti.”</p><p>“Yeah, I promise it’s something you won’t regretti.”</p><p>“I don’t know you.”</p><p>“Then why are you in my house?”</p><p>“Useless question,” Papyrus said while waving away said useless question. “A better one would be what are you going to do with this strange cat you found in the trash.”</p><p>Sans shrugged, “I dunno. What should I do?”</p><p>They both turned their attention back to the cat, still happily scarfing down the plate of food. He was practically inhaling it. Papyrus rested his chin on his fist, “There must be some way to find out who owns this cat. Perhaps they live nearby?”</p><p>“So like… put up found cat posters?”</p><p>“Or at least look for any lost cat posters. Really, it seems incredibly irresponsible to put a collar on a cat and not at least put a phone number!”</p><p>Sans just nodded in agreement with that.</p><p>Mungo finished its meal, happily licking its chops as it sank back onto the chair. Then it carefully hopped down and limped over to Papyrus, purring like a rusty motor as it rubbed against his leg.</p><p>“Poor little thing is injured!” Papyrus declared loudly. “Clearly you must take them to a veterinarian and have them treated. Oh!” His face lit up as a realization hit him, “Don’t pets often have little bits of tracking technology hidden on them somehow? I’m certain a veterinary clinic would be able to track such a device.”</p><p>“Sure, makes sense. Have fun with that, bro.”</p><p>“Oh no! You picked this cat up out of the garbage, you take responsibility for them!”</p><p>Sans sighed, he was afraid of that. “Yeah, ok.” Shouldn’t be too bad, Mungo obviously had an owner to come take that responsibility right off his hands. He pulled out his phone and did a quick search for a nearby vet. “Oh hey, this one has Deltarune in its name.”</p><p>“Excellent!” Papyrus picked up Mungo and bundled it into Sans’s arms, he had to fumble for a moment to keep from dropping cat or phone right on the kitchen floor. The cat at least could hold itself up. “To my car!” Papyrus declared proudly while striking a cool pose.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Because it would be unsafe to take them on that silly contraption you consider a vehicle.”</p><p>“You just want to keep an eye on me.”</p><p>“That is merely the icing on the cake,” Papyrus said casually even as he started bustling Sans towards the door. Sans honestly didn’t see how Papyrus’s shiny red sports car was any safer than his trusty scooter, especially as he insisted on driving with the top down, but he supposed it was safer to hold the cat in his lap rather than plop it into a basket. Mungo spent the entire trip lounging in Sans’s lap, nonchalantly licking it’s body the whole way there. Not that it was a long trip, even if they did pass three other vets on the way.</p><p>Just as Sans expected there was a monster sitting behind the reception desk, as well as a couple more in the waiting room. The one at the desk was a skeleton with a placard that declared his name to be Hickory. “Hello, what can we do for you today?”</p><p>“Hey, found this cat in a dumpster, we think it’s hurt and also it has a collar but no contact information on it.”</p><p>“Okay, first off a cat is not a baby, if you keep holding them like that they’re gonna scratch ya. Second off go ahead and take a seat, I’m pretty sure we got an opening we can fit you in… yup. It’ll be about twenty minutes, just sit tight while I let the doc know you’re here.”</p><p>Sans didn’t need to be told that twice, he went and plopped down in the nearest seat, Mungo held loosely in his lap. Papyrus was looking something up on his phone, when he sat down next to Sans he held it out to show him a strange drawing of a human holding a cat. “This article stresses the importance of a cat feeling supported when held.”</p><p>“Mungo’s just fine in my lap. Look at ‘em, they’re just vibing.”</p><p>“Oh! This one is a video!” Papyrus held up the phone again so they could both watch some human talk about how much cats like to be squished, apparently.</p><p>Hickory came back, “Alright, we’re all set. Let’s get some information now so we don’t waste time later.”</p><p>Sans sighed deeply, from his Soul, but he stood up and managed to get the cat into a comfortable enough hold while he rattled off answers to all of Hickory’s questions. Mostly it was his name and how he found the cat.</p><p>“You said they’re injured?”</p><p>“Front driver’s side paw,” Papyrus cut in cheerfully.</p><p>“Did you notice any other injuries?”</p><p>“Uh… not really???” Sans shifted a bit, “Not anything really obvious, can’t really see anything through all this fur.”</p><p>“Fair enough, alright. It shouldn’t be much longer now.”</p><p>Sans plopped back down again, petting the dozing cat in his lap while humoring Papyrus and his many cat care videos as they waited on the vet.</p><p>A short skeleton with a shark-like grin came out leading a dog on a leash, one of the other monsters stood up and talked with the skeleton for a bit, then they took their dog and left. The skeleton did a sharp about face and marched back into the back. A few minutes later he came back out and marched right up to Sans and Papyrus. “Mr. Gaster?”</p><p>“That’s us,” Sans said as he stood up.</p><p>“Hello, my name is Ash, I’m the vet tech. And this is Mungojerrie?”</p><p>“Yup, found the thing doing its best trash panda impression.”</p><p>“They’re surprisingly calm for being injured and handled by strangers.”</p><p>“We fed the little bugger.”</p><p>“That might explain it.” Ash had a wry grin that flashed across his face, there and gone so fast Sans almost wasn’t sure he’d seen it. “Well I’m ready to take them in for treatment, hopefully they’re chipped and we can find the owner.” Ash expertly took Mungo from Sans and quickly disappeared into the back.</p><p>“Welp, a job well done. Let’s head on home.”</p><p>“No??? We need to make sure little Muggle-Jerry is returned home safely.”</p><p>“Ugh, fine.” Sans plopped back into the hard plastic seat. Papyrus decided to distract him with more videos, these ones just various cats doing cute or silly things. At one point a monster that reminded Sans a lot of Alphys’s girlfriend (who had quickly become Papyrus’s best friend, which seemed pretty unfair to Chaos) came out with a carrier to give to the other monster in the waiting room. And then there were just two. Ash walked up behind the desk and stuck a sticky note to Hickory’s face before disappearing into the back again. A human with a tiny fluff ball on a leash came in and talked with Hickory before sitting down on the other side of the small room. By this point Papyrus had moved onto videos of various pets doing heroic things like defend children from wild animals or rescuing their owners from “drowning.”</p><p>“Are you fucking kidding me?!”</p><p>Sans couldn’t say the waiting room went dead silent because well… it was already pretty quiet and the video Papyrus was showing him didn’t stop playing. Hickory looked very sheepish at his outburst, smiling nervously at the human glaring his way. “Sorry, folks.” He much more quietly went back to murmuring something into the phone.</p><p>“That can’t be good news,” Papyrus said nervously.</p><p>“Guess we’ll find out in a bit. Hey, do that one next.”</p><p>Papyrus obligingly tapped the video and they were subjected to several minutes of loud, obnoxious, computerized meows that Papyrus stubbornly refused to put an end to. All the related videos after that were more memes or remixes, Papyrus grumbled under his breath as he had to go back to the search bar to find more of what he’d been watching. Hickory discreetly disappeared into the back.</p><p><sub>“Are you fucking kidding me?!</sub>”</p><p><sub>“Language!</sub>”</p><p>Sans couldn’t help laughing at that, seems Hickory had taken whatever he’d been told on the phone back to the doctor.</p><p>“If you must laugh at least do it over something nice, like this video of a slowly spinning sea mammal.”</p><p>“That is actually pretty funny. That one looks funny too.”</p><p>“We are not… oh, that one does actually look interesting.”</p><p>Together they watched a “sea dog” meet a “land dog” for the first time. They both looked pretty excited to meet each other. Score, now Papyrus wouldn’t know how serious Sans was or wasn’t the next time he chose another meme.</p><p>“Sans.” That was Hickory, back from the back with a pretty harried look on his face.</p><p>“Looks like we get to find out what the bad news is.” They both walked over to the desk, Sans leaned forward onto it lazily.</p><p>“So here’s the deal, a bit over a week ago we had this EXACT THING happen.”</p><p>Sans raised a brow at that.</p><p>“A client brought in an injured cat he’d found, one with a collar that had a name and nothing else, but he was chipped so we looked him up. The cat didn’t match <b>any</b> of the data on the chip, and neither does the cat you just brought in. Even weirder they both have the same owner listed. So long story short: we think the two cats were both being used for what we can only guess was a scam that got given up on.”</p><p>Papyrus gasped, “That’s just terrible!”</p><p>“Yeah,” Sans agreed, “that’s pretty messed up.”</p><p>“People do some mess up sh- uh… stuff. Anyway, we’re pretty darn sure the cat you brought in isn’t Mungojerrie, which leaves us with a cat with no owner. We got a couple options here: you can keep him or we can contact the other client I just told you about and see if he’s willing to take in another injured, potentially traumatized cat, but if he isn’t he’ll end up going to the pound.”</p><p>Papyrus made the saddest sound when Hickory said “pound,” a sound so pitiful it tore at Sans’s Soul. That wasn’t why Sans made the decision he did, he really was a softie at Soul that wouldn’t have turned his back on scruffy little Mungo either way, but that little whimper did take it from “call up the other guy first and if he says no I’ll do it” to him confidently telling Hickory, “Guess I got a new pet.”</p><p>Hickory smiled broadly, “Hey, that’s great. So let’s just get the both of you set up in our system and then I’ll have my bro come go over his treatment plan with you.” He typed away furiously, then paused as he looked up at Sans. “So, we’re pretty sure he’s <b>not</b> Mungojerrie, new name?”</p><p>“Obviously. Let’s see… well I found him in the trash so how about Trash Panda?”</p><p>“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Papyrus yelled. The human glared at him.</p><p>“Ok, Garbage Dump? Furball? Fluffbutt?”</p><p>“You do this because you hate me.”</p><p>Hickory snickered and looked like he was doing his damnedest to keep a straight face.</p><p>“What about… Red? ‘Cause of his eyes?”</p><p>“Very Asgore school of naming,” Hickory said with a sage nod as he typed that in. “Actually, speaking of his eyes I looked that up recently. Red’s a Siamese cat and all Siamese cats are albino and albino animals often have eyes that look red because the lack of color means you can see the color of the blood behind their eyes.”</p><p>“That is both incredibly disturbing and quite fascinating!” Papyrus said cheerfully.</p><p>“Isn’t it?” Hickory grinned up at them, then went back to typing at his computer. “Anyway, we’ll need all of your contact information, especially as I’ll be correcting it on the chip as well. It’s a special case, otherwise you’d be the one that has to do it, enjoy this one time special offer.”</p><p>“Believe me, I am,” Sans said with a laugh before he started rattling off numbers and street names.</p><p>Once that was taken care of Sans was back in his seat, this time with Papyrus rattling off interesting facts about Siamese cats he’d looked up (that is: reading the entire Siamese cat wikipedia article out loud to him word for word because he thought all of it was interesting). Barely into the article Ash came back out to explain everything they’d found wrong with Red, go over the treatment options, and got Sans’s okay to proceed. Then Papyrus went right back to reading the article to Sans. It was actually pretty soothing, Sans could understand why Papyrus still liked to be read to every night, even if he had to do it over the phone sometimes. Eventually the Undyne-looking monster came back out with a cardboard box under one arm and a bag swinging from the other.</p><p>“Yo! You Gaster?”</p><p>“Sans is fine.”</p><p>“And I’m Papyrus!”</p><p>“Cool, I’m Nereid, and this here’s your new cat!” She pressed the box to Sans’s chest until he had a firm grip on it. Sans couldn’t help himself, it was a cat inside a box, he <b>had</b> to check it. Inside the box was a loaf of pale, creamy fur with a Cone of Shame <sup>TM</sup> at one end. He heard a faint snore, it wasn’t hard to guess the little guy was asleep.</p><p>“And THESE,” Nereid continued enthusiastically, “are all the meds he’ll need.” She then went on to explain what each med did, how to administer it, when to administer it, and all that. “Don’t worry about it too hard, the instructions are also printed on each one. There’s also a container of kitty litter, if you have a cereal box you can cut out a temporary litter box to keep things contained until you can get a real one. There’s a couple cans of soft food, we didn’t have to anesthetize him so he should be good to eat when he gets hungry again. ALSO these are all the pamphlets we got on cats and new pet owners, so make sure you read them! And before you go make sure you make an appointment for this guy in two weeks, I wanna make sure that respiratory infection’s clearing up.</p><p>Sans just nodded along, “Sure, makes sense.”</p><p>“And no worries about scheduling getting him snipped, he already was. So…” Nereid leaned in closer with a wide grin across her scaly face, “You gonna get in contact with the other guy and have a little kitty reunion?”</p><p>“Can you just give out his number like that?”</p><p>“Of course not!” Nereid guffawed. “But if YOU give the okay I can pass your number or email or whatever on to him.”</p><p>“That actually makes sense.”</p><p>“Of course it makes sense, I didn’t go to eight years of medical school just to not make sense.”</p><p>“Hey Papyrus, hold this for a sec.” Sans handed off the cardboard box, then went digging about in his phone’s additional inventory. In the very last slot of the secondary inventory he finally found what he was looking for and triumphantly pulled out a small box. He opened it up to reveal the inside almost completely full of business cards, he’s pretty sure he’s only handed out three so far. He held one out to Nereid, “Just give him this next time you see him.”</p><p>“Give it to the nerd.”</p><p>“Excuse you, you’re a doctor!” Hickory shot back, offended.</p><p>“And you’re the one obsessed with Transformers.”</p><p>Hickory shrugged, “They’re cool.”</p><p>“Here,” Sans held the card out to Hickory. “Just give that to the other guy next time you see him.”</p><p>“If he says yes make sure you don’t have a kitty date before I give the okay,” Nereid said sternly. “The last thing we need is them to pass an infection back and forth.”</p><p>“Sure thing.” Sans packed his cards back into his phone, then took Red back.”</p><p>“Anyway, appointment in two weeks, see you then.”</p><p>“Ok, will do.”</p><p>“I’ll make sure he does!” Papyrus waved as Nereid left. Once the appointment was made they went back out to the car. Sans sighed as he melted into the car seat, at least he had the car ride home to relax a little. “Don’t think this means you get out of cleaning, if your apartment wasn’t fit for you to live in it’s definitely not fit to keep a pet in!”</p><p>Sans groaned.</p><p>“I’ll order a pizza when we get there.”</p><p>“I accept your blatant bribery.”</p><p>“Thank you! And also I just want you to know that I’m very proud of you, being a pet owner is a lot of responsibility!”</p><p>“I work in a lab, I can be responsible.”</p><p>“Not setting your coworkers on fire and being responsible for the health and welfare of a living creature are not the same thing.”</p><p>“That’s true. Welp, it’s a good thing I got all these pamphlets then.”</p><p>“Isn’t it exciting? We can read them together after we finish cleaning!”</p><p>Sans groaned, it was going to be a long, long day.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Kitty is full of surprises, and Blue gets some help.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Going back in time a little here, I wanted to have both cats start their tales at the beginning, even though chronologically that’s not what actually happened. So we’re going to be focusing on Blue and his still as of yet unnamed cat until we catch up with Sans and Red.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Blue sighed, more awake than asleep at this point. It was probably around the time his alarm normally went off, even when he got to sleep in he still woke up at the same time. Curse his regular sleep schedule! Well no point in laying around hoping to go back to sleep, he knew from experience it wouldn’t happen. And besides, routine was good for both monsters and cats, he’d found that out last night. Speaking of cats, he finally blinked open his eyes and focused down at his arm, he was on his side and tucked under his arm was a small, warm, fuzzy body pressed to his chest. He smiled at his new pet cat, gently stroking his shorn fur.</p>
<p>Said cat made an unhappy sound and tried to hide his face from the early morning light streaming in, the cone made moving his head rather clumsy though. Blue chuckled softly and pet the cat a few more times. “Not much of a morning person, huh?” Blue asked softly. That’s one of the things he’d found out during his mad research binge the night before: cats like being spoken to in soft voices. He’d also seen a lot of stuff recommending talking to cats in a squeaky voice, but he didn’t think his voice could handle that.</p>
<p>“You may be okay with lounging in bed all day, and probably should after how much you had to go through yesterday, but I can’t stay still that long.” He carefully shimmied down the bed until he could climb off without disturbing the cat. He padded across the hall to the bathroom, it was the one morning of the week he didn’t go for a jog so he could take his sweet time with his morning routine.</p>
<p>He was in the middle of brushing his teeth when he heard a muffled thump from his bedroom. No cries of pain, but still worrying. He quickly spat and set aside the still frothy brush, fully intending to go check on the cat. When he turned around he found the cat tentatively sniffing at the bathroom doorway.</p>
<p>“Oh, hey there uh… Rumpleteazer, doing some exploring?”</p>
<p>The cat’s only response was to slowly step into the small room, still sniffing.</p>
<p>“Oh good, guess that really isn’t your name. Well I’ll just have to find you the best possible name!”</p>
<p>The cat flinched.</p>
<p>Blue sheepishly dropped his voice down to nearly a whisper, “Oops, sorry.”</p>
<p>The cat started creeping forward again. Blue decided to finish brushing his teeth, Kitty needed to get used to him doing things like that anyway. He still kept an eye socket on the cat, watching him slowly sniff his way further into the small room. Once in front of the toilet he stood on his hind legs and balanced himself with his paws against the rim of the closed lid. He looked up at Blue and meowed.</p>
<p>Blue wasn’t really sure what the cat wanted so he decided to just finish brushing. Kitty seemed enamored with the toilet, meowing and pawing at it. As Blue finished up his brushing the cat hopped up onto the side of the tub and tried to use his new leverage to lift the toilet lid.</p>
<p>“Do you seriously want in the toilet?” Blue asked in disbelief.</p>
<p>The cat meowed again, then went back to scratching at the lid.</p>
<p>“You have a bowl of water in the kitchen, I can even fill it with fresh water.”</p>
<p>The cat continued trying to lift the lid. Blue slowly reached down and lifted the lid, watching the cat the whole time. Once it was up the cat hopped onto the seat and sat down facing away from the toilet. To Blue’s amazement he heard water hitting more water.</p>
<p>“By the Angel, are you peeing in the toilet?!”</p>
<p>As if in answer the cat turned around and flushed, then hopped down from the toilet and walked out of the bathroom.</p>
<p>Blue wasn’t sure how to feel about that, was that normal? Well he just had more research to do now! He decided to get himself a little something to eat before starting all that, he grabbed a yogurt and settled down on the couch with the remote, ready to spend a little of his morning relaxing.</p>
<p>Kitty came limping up (Blue winced in sympathy) then sat down in front of the couch. Though sitting wasn’t quite the right word, the cat kept rocking back and forth, front paws lifting and lowering as he looked up at the couch with a laser focus. It took Blue far too long to realize the cat was trying to jump up but was having a hard time because he was still injured. He quickly leaned down and scooped the cat up onto the couch, “There you go, isn’t that better?”</p>
<p>The cat, and Blue really needed to start coming up with a name for him, walked right onto Blue’s lap. Blue cooed and gave him a few pats, then tried to get back to his breakfast. It was rather hard to do while keeping the yogurt container away from the cat’s inquisitive nose.</p>
<p>“Kitty, I don’t think this is good for you!” The pamphlet about what to feed your cat had a “do not” list included, and at the very top of that was highly processed food and dairy. “Wait, you must be hungry!” How horrible of Blue! Of course he needed to feed the poor cat, he barely had anything the night before. He picked up the cat and pressed him firmly but gently into his chest, setting the yogurt down on the coffee table before heading into the kitchen. He thinks that’s where he left the shopping bag full of food and medicine the night before. “Oh my goodness! I need to give you your medicine too!” This is what Blue gets for not making himself a coffee, without a morning run to get his mana flowing he just can’t think straight.</p>
<p>Blue found the bag, pulled everything out, and re-read all the labels just to make sure he remembered them. “Okay, so this one is twice a day with food and this one’s three times a day with food and this one’s twice a day topical… okay. We’ll do the medicines, eat, and then when we’re done we’ll do the eye treatment.”</p>
<p>The cat just hung limply in Blue’s hold. Blue looked down at the medicines and the syringes that went with them, looked at the can of wet cat food and the lid that would need to be pulled off. There was no way he could do this all one handed. He set the cat down, “I’m just going to take a minute to prepare, don’t go wandering off.” That taken care of he started setting up to give his cat his meds, then had a moment of insecurity and went searching for a video tutorial. After watching two different ones that luckily both agreed on the best method, he changed where and how he’d set everything up, including having the food already plated up and set aside on the counter so he could feed the cat immediately. Once ready he looked around the floor, “Alright Kitty your… uh… Kitty?”</p>
<p>There was a kind of chirpy sound from the living room, followed by a muffled thump, then the cat was walking into the kitchen from the living room. Blue huffed, he suspected his breakfast was now gone. Well nothing to do about that now, he scooped up the cat and put them on a towel on the dinner table, vowing to himself he’d wipe it down with disinfectant when he was done. He clumsily managed to get both doses squirted into the cat’s mouth, then set him back down on the floor along with the bowl he’d dumped the wet food into. The cat set about eating ravenously, loudly chomping down and messily chewing. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” He pet the cat, happy to note he ignored him in favor of food. He’d seen a few articles warning that animals that had been starved tended to become “food aggressive.”</p>
<p>Blue breathed a sigh of relief and set about cleaning everything up. Once the table and his hands had been washed he went back into the living room. The yogurt container was indeed empty, licked clean, even the lid. Fortunately the container was whole, the cat hadn’t tried chewing on it.</p>
<p>This time Blue brewed himself a cup of coffee to go with his yogurt. He sat at the kitchen table to nurse them both as he started back up his cat research binge. It was interrupted when the cat finished eating so he could apply a bit of cream to the cat’s wounded eye, and then he went right back to his research. He found it was fully possible to toilet train a cat but also that it was a bad idea. He thought he may as well buy the litter boxes anyway, maybe he could untrain the cat? His yogurt finished, he got a fresh cup of coffee and continued to nurse it as he wrote out a list of things to get for the cat and look up recommendations on his phone.</p>
<p>Blue’s head was whirling in no time, there were so many articles on what was or wasn’t good for a cat to eat, which brands were trusted and which were full of rice, and a few went off on side rants about the kinds of bowls cat food was served in. He checked his vet’s website, another fifteen minutes before they opened. Surely someone was already there, getting the place ready to open. But it would be terribly rude to expect someone to pick up before opening. Well Blue could just work on the next item on the list and go back to food after talking to the vet. If nothing else he could always get the same brand the vet had used.</p>
<p>Eventually he made that phone call, Slim rattled off a few brands Dr. Nereid recommended and a few to avoid, he finished his shopping list, and went to take a shower. Now hungry enough to actually eat, he made himself a real breakfast (decadent waffles piled high with whipped cream and fresh berries), gave the cat his second breakfast (the last can of food the vet had provided), and it was finally about time for the pet supply store to open.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, Kitty,” Blue said miserably as he lowered the whining cat back into the cardboard carrier, now lined with a dish towel. “It’s safer than letting you roam around in the car while I drive. I promise I’ll buy a better carrier at the store.”</p>
<p>The cat didn’t seem enthused by this. Blue didn’t blame him. Still, the cat’s only resistance was the whining and he was soon in the carrier. In nearly no time at all they were on their way. Blue was really lucky, he didn’t have to drive all the way across Fourside to find a pet store, the nearest one was in a shopping center up the road a little and around the corner. Once there he moved the cat, towel and all, from the carrier to sit in the little child/purse/small pet holder thingy on the front of the shopping cart. “There, now you can help me pick out everything you want, isn’t that nice Kitty?”</p>
<p>The cat seemed more interested in hunkering down and making himself as small as possible, but that was okay! Blue came prepared for this. He had with him the shirt he’d worn the day before, not washed yet, and draped it over the cat. He tucked a sleeve to be up near the collar’s entrance so the cat could smell something familiar. Proud of himself for being so prepared, he wheeled the cart into the store and, once he spotted it, made a beeline for the cat section. He decided to start with the biggest items, the nearest being the litter section.</p>
<p>“What do you think, Kitty? This one?” He held up a bag for the cat to sniff, but he ignored it. Blue tried other bags, but they were all equally ignored. “Well I’ll just get a small bag then, if you don’t like it we can try a different kind next time.” Assuming the cat used the litter boxes at all, but from the information he’d found that morning it sounded like the cat would be happier using a box than a toilet. He plopped two litter boxes into the cart as well and was about to go hunt down some scratching posts next.</p>
<p>“Good morning, are you finding everything okay?”</p>
<p>Blue looked up in surprise to find a fox in a uniform smiling at him. “Hello! Yes, I’m finding everything so far, thank you. Though uh… do you know a lot about cats?”</p>
<p>“Me personally? Sadly I don’t know much, but our cat specialist is working today, would you like me to go get her?”</p>
<p>“Yes! That would be great, thank you!”</p>
<p>“Wait right here, I’ll send her on over.”</p>
<p>Blue waited patiently right where he was, and just as the employee had said another person in uniform walked into the aisle. This one was a human with short, dark hair, dark eyes, and skin on the lighter end. That was about how far Blue could tell humans apart, most of them were just various shades of brown.</p>
<p>“Hello, I’m Jill. I heard you had a cat question?”</p>
<p>“Yes! You see yesterday I found this cat,” he motioned to Kitty, “and it turned out he didn’t have an owner so now I have a new pet cat. But I’ve never had a pet of any kind before so I’m starting from scratch.”</p>
<p>“Oh wow, that’s so sweet of you! Can I see her?”</p>
<p>“Sure, though I don’t really know what he’s like yet. He was very calm for the vet, but I think he was just happy to be getting help.” Blue pulled aside the shirt that had somehow half covered the cone’s opening.</p>
<p>Jill came over and held her hand out to the cat, he gave her a few sniffs, then leaned forward just a little. She cooed and started scratching his cheek, “He’s so friendly! Poor little guy, out alone on the streets? I’m so happy for him he found you.”</p>
<p>“Yes, I’m glad too. He really has been sweet, he even cuddled up to me last night. It reminded me of my little brother when he was little and had a nightmare.”</p>
<p>“Awwww… that really is sweet. So I’m guessing you need help getting together everything you’re going to need for this little sweetheart? Most people think they can buy some food and a litter box and they’re done.”</p>
<p>“Actually I have a list!” Blue showed Jill the list he’d written out that morning, “The vet gave me a pamphlet with all the basic necessities and I’ve been doing some research. I was wondering more about his behavior, he seems to have been toilet trained. But apparently it’s not good for cats?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, it’s really only convenient for people too lazy to take care of their cats like they should. But he’s been toilet trained? I thought you said he didn’t have an owner.”</p>
<p>“Well, kind of.” Blue then went into an explanation about how the cat he found didn’t at all match the information on his chip.</p>
<p>“That is weird, I almost wonder if two different chip manufacturers accidentally made two different chips with the same ID number, but if the name on the chip matched the name on the collar…”</p>
<p>“The only reasonable explanation we could come up with was someone found the collar and chip, stole a similar looking cat, and was going to try to “return” him to Rumpleteazer’s owner for a reward.”</p>
<p>“That’s terrible! But you think this kitty was kidnapped?”</p>
<p>“I don’t think scammers would bother to teach a cat to use the toilet.”</p>
<p>“It would also explain why he’s such a little sweetheart, very few cats that have lived their whole lives on the street would tolerate people, let alone go trying to cuddle up to one.”</p>
<p>“So, is there a way to erase his toilet training?”</p>
<p>“You know, I’m not sure. I’ve never heard of anyone trying. I suppose it’s possible.”</p>
<p>“Should I leave the lid down? The bathroom locked?”</p>
<p>“Oh no, don’t do that! Poor little boy’s been through so much recently, trying to force him could just stress him out more.” Jill cooed and went back to scratching the cat’s cheek, he seemed to tolerate it. “The best you can do is set up the litter boxes and make them easily available to him. If the boxes are more convenient he’s more likely to use them. Praise him if you catch him using one, ignore if you catch him using the toilet. This way you can gently encourage him to use the healthier option.”</p>
<p>Blue nodded, “Okay, I can do that. So that’s the first item off the list, next is…” he looked down at the long list in his hands, “scratching posts. Want to help me pick out a few? And a cat tree? You have those, right?”</p>
<p>“Of course! They’re right this way.” Jill started walking down the aisle, “If you like I can help you pick out everything you’ll need for uh… oh hey, I don’t think you ever told me his name.”</p>
<p>“I haven’t quite found his name yet, I have until next weekend to come up with one. I want it to be something he’ll like and respond to.”</p>
<p>“Bring him by after you find his name, I’d love to be properly introduced to this little gentleman. Anyway, these are the scratchers and trees. I wouldn’t bother with any of these little dinky ones,” Jill said dismissively as she passed by the cheaper ones.</p>
<p>“A sturdy, wide base,” Blue quoted from the notes he’d jotted down on his list.</p>
<p>“Right, and for those we have a few options. With a new cat you don’t know yet whether he’d prefer carpet or sisal or cardboard…”</p>
<p>Blue was very glad he met Jill, he may have done his research but she really helped him understand what all those lists and videos were actually talking about. She didn’t make fun of him for holding things up to the cat for his approval, even going so far as to help him hold up the larger items so the cat could sniff them. “It’s really neat how he seems to actually be considering them,” Blue commented.</p>
<p>“Most animals are far smarter than people realize, did you know that for years scientists didn’t think cats passed the mirror test until someone was playing with an app on their phone?”*</p>
<p>“I have no idea what the mirror test is,” Blue replied cheerfully.</p>
<p>Eventually they found everything on the list, Blue tried not to wince at the total, and with a parting promise from Blue to come back soon they were off. Once home he let the cat out of his new, more spacious carrier to roam while Blue started setting everything up, starting with the litter boxes.</p>
<p>The next thing he knew it was closing in on eleven o’clock and he hadn’t even started on the tree yet. Blue sighed, he had hoped to have everything done before then, but it looked like it would have to wait until this afternoon. But he should have enough time for a quick phone call before then, and now that he’d thought of it he really should take care of this sooner rather than later. He grabbed his phone and quickly pulled up a contact.</p>
<p>“… Good morning, Blue! How are you?” A familiar voice said warmly over the phone.</p>
<p>“Good morning, Gabrielle. I’m fine, how’re you?”</p>
<p>“I am doing well, thank you. Are we still on for next weekend?”</p>
<p>“Of course! I’m really looking forward to it. Is Kris coming along as well?”</p>
<p>“No, they are spending the night at a friend’s. I suppose they are having their own last hurrah before finals,” Gabrielle said indulgently. Blue could almost see the smile on her furry face.</p>
<p>“That’s fine, it makes it easier for us to gossip without having to worry about who might overhear.”</p>
<p>Gabrielle laughed at that, “Yes, I suppose that is quite true. I am glad though, they seemed to have had a hard time since Azzy went away.”</p>
<p>“How is he? I know the first year away from home can be really tough, especially with just how far away schools can be on the Surface.”</p>
<p>“He is just fine, groaning about finals like all the other students. Oh, how is Honey? You usually call him on Saturdays, do you not?”</p>
<p>“I do, but we haven’t talked yet today. I should actually wrap this up, we’ll be starting soon. The reason I called is, well… the short version is I adopted an injured cat last night.”</p>
<p>“Oh my! Is the cat okay?”</p>
<p>“Yes, he’s on his way to a full recovery! But he needs medication regularly, I won’t be able to just leave him alone all day for a little while. I’m not entirely sure what to do though, I considered leaving him in his carrier in the classroom, but that seems rather cruel.”</p>
<p>“Indeed, leaving him in such a small space all day long would be terrible.”</p>
<p>“Not to mention the noise of rowdy teenagers traipsing in and out of the room all day.”</p>
<p>“Perhaps we can set up a little enclosed area in the teacher’s lounge?”</p>
<p>“I’m not sure that’s much better, there’d be complete strangers running in and out all day long.”</p>
<p>“Ah, yes. And I am sure the poor dear will need someplace quiet. Well… what about my office?”</p>
<p>“Oh, are you sure?”</p>
<p>“Of course! There will be only a few people in and out, it will be much quieter, and to keep him contained we can set up a little area by my desk. I am sure I still have an old playpen somewhere, that will do nicely. And of course if I come over later today and become acquainted with your cat then he will be just fine spending the day with me.”</p>
<p>Blue sighed in relief, “That’s great! Thank you so much, I really appreciate this.”</p>
<p>“Of course, I shall call you later and we can figure out the best time today then. I would not want to keep that brother of yours waiting.”</p>
<p>“Right, you’re so right,” Blue said with a laugh.</p>
<p>“As I often am.”</p>
<p>“I’ll talk to you later.” That taken care of, Blue eagerly sat down at his desk, the computer already in the process of booting up. The program took a moment to load, he had a few friends online but no phone call waiting for him quite yet. That was fine, he settled back into the chair to wait. Kitty came over and stood up, paws patting at Blue’s lap. “You want up?” Blue asked cheerfully even as he picked the cat up and settled him in his lap. The program finally started to ring, Blue eagerly accepted the call.</p>
<p>The video flickered onto the screen, Honey sitting cross legged before his own computer, the door to his tiny dorm room behind him.</p>
<p>“Hello, Brother!” Blue greeted eagerly.</p>
<p>“Heya, bro,” Honey returned languidly.</p>
<p>“I have some big news!”</p>
<p>“Oh yeah? Lay it on me.”</p>
<p>“I met someone!”</p>
<p>Honey perked up and leaned forward, “Oh yeah?”</p>
<p>Blue lifted the cat into view, cone of shame and all, “Meet the newest addition to our family!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>For those curious the syringes don’t have needles, there’s no injection involved. That’s why it’s with food, you squirt the medicine into the cat’s mouth, then give the poor thing something to eat to help wash it down and get the taste out.</p>
<p>*This is not true. Mirror tests on cats, even ones attempting to replicate the phone app phenomenon, are still inconclusive as of writing this.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Just a regular day at work for Blue, with a little furry addition to throw things off just a little.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Blue put his car into park, turned off the engine, and sighed deeply. He’d just pulled into the faculty lot and now had the wonderful task of trying to get everything with him out of the car and to Miss Dreemurr’s office. He may have over packed. Just a little. The tote bags he hadn’t realized he’d been collecting over the years helped though. With his messenger bag full of (not yet graded) essays over his shoulder, cat carrier tucked firmly under one arm, and four bulging tote bags of varying sizes hanging off his other arm like someone refusing to make two trips to bring in the groceries, he marched determinedly to the front offices.</p><p>Knock knock.</p><p>“Who is there?”</p><p>Blue had to restrain a groan, he somehow always forgot how much Gabrielle liked low brow humor. “Cat.”</p><p>“Cat who?”</p><p>“Bless you.”</p><p>Gabrielle chuckled as she opened the door and waved Blue in, “How are the two of you doing this morning?”</p><p>“We’re doing great! Kitty’s already had his morning dosage and breakfast, and I managed to get everything here in only one trip.”</p><p>“I can see that, this all seems like an awful lot for one little cat.”</p><p>“I want to make sure he’s comfortable! But also since this is going to be for the whole week I wanted to be prepared, you don’t mind if we leave these here until Friday?”</p><p>“You may leave these here until he is cleared to stay home. Is that not right, sweet little one?” She cooed and bent forward to poke at the carrier door.</p><p>“We both really appreciate that, thank you.”</p><p>“I did find that old playpen, it is set up over here.” Gabrielle showed Blue to the side of her desk, where indeed a playpen was set up, complete with a soft foam mat inside it.</p><p>Blue set aside the totes so he could give his cat his full attention as he set down the carrier, took off the door, then detached the lid, leaving the cat lounging on his tea towel and looking around the room curiously. Then Blue started unpacking the rest. First the litter box, then the litter, the shirt that had unofficially become the cat’s blanket, a few toys (not that the cat had played with any yet, not really. But Blue wanted him to have the option), and a water dish he filled up from the fountain just outside the office. The last tote he emptied out onto Gabrielle’s desk as he explained them.</p><p>“So cats like to eat small meals quite often throughout the day. This is his food dish, and these are his meals already portioned out, though if he asks for more that’s okay. Healing is hungry work, after all. If you could just feed him near the end of first period I can feed him and give him his next dosage during lunch break, and then another meal during fifth break.”</p><p>“I can certainly manage that.”</p><p>“And I’m sorry in advance for him using his litter box, I will of course clean it out before we leave for the day. I know I told you he was toilet trained but I don’t think it would be a good idea to let him go wandering around the office alone.”</p><p>“I certainly agree it would not be wise.”</p><p>“I also brought the quietest toys I have, but you know there’s really no such thing as a quiet toy.”</p><p>Gabrielle placed one large paw on Blue’s shoulder, “Blue I am both a parent and a teacher, I know that it is when they are being quiet that one must truly worry. Now cease your fussing and get going, you do not want to be late to class.”</p><p>“Yes, Principal Dreemurr.”</p><p>“Do not sass me, Professor Swapson.”</p><p>Blue giggled, then leaned down to give the cat a few face scritches, “Be good for Gabrielle, okay? I’ll be back for lunch.”</p><p>A few hours later the lunch bell rang. Blue closed the book he’d been reading out of and spoke loudly over the sounds of students frantically putting away their own books and notes, “Remember everyone, I won’t be staying in the room today so don’t leave behind anything you may want or need for lunch break.”</p><p>There were a few scattered “Yes, Mr. Swapson,” from the students, then they were eagerly filing out the door. Once the classroom was empty Blue locked it behind him and headed to the front office, bag lunch in hand. He knocked on Gabrielle’s door, “Ms. Dreemurr, it’s Blue.”</p><p>“Come in.”</p><p>In he went, a bright smile on his face as he closed the door behind him, “How has your morning been?”</p><p>“Very quiet, your cat spent most of it dozing.”</p><p>Blue laughed and was about to respond when something rubbed against his tibia. Blue looked down to see his cat rubbing against his pant leg, already purring loudly. He bent down to scoop the cat up, “Well hello there Kitty. What are you doing out of your playpen?”</p><p>“He got out again?”</p><p>“Again?”</p><p>Gabrielle had the good sense to look ashamed of herself, “He got out a little bit ago, I didn’t even notice until I heard the office toilet flush.”</p><p>Blue looked down at the cat cuddled up in his arms, one of his legs wrapped up in bandages still, he looked down at the playpen, behind himself at the door handle, then back at Gabrielle. “How???”</p><p>“I am not sure, but I suspect he merely jumped on the handle.” Gabrielle had trouble using door knobs with her large, furry paws so she had replaced them with elegantly curving door handles whenever possible. Including her office.</p><p>“That doesn’t… he can’t even jump up onto the couch. Unless he’s faking that?” Blue sat down heavily in the visitor chair in front of Gabrielle’s desk. “He has trouble walking too, unless he’s really just faking it.”</p><p>“I do not know, but I do know he came right back here after he finished his business.”</p><p>“That’s something at least. I’ll have to think about this later though, lunch hour is only so long.”</p><p>After taking care of the cat, Blue settled back in the chair and chatted with her as they ate. Once done with his food, the cat climbed up into Blue’s lap and stretched out to clean himself.</p><p>“And are you any closer to picking a name for him?”</p><p>“I liked Honey’s suggestion, but there are a lot of stars and constellations to choose from! So many interesting stories and heroes from all around the world, it’s been hard to even narrow it down.”</p><p>Gabrielle giggled, “It is always hard to choose a name, but I am sure whatever you pick will be delightful.”</p><p>“I want it to be something Kitty likes too, it wouldn’t be good to pick a name he won’t respond to. Isn’t that right, Sagittarius?” Blue squeaked out the last bit as best he could while leaning down over the cat. “How’s that for a name? Do you like it, Sagittarius? Sagittarius!”</p><p>The cat simply continued washing himself.</p><p>“Guess not,” Blue laughed.</p><p>“Perhaps that one is too long of a name.”</p><p>“That’s a good point, I suppose that means Heracles is too long too.”</p><p>“Still a better name than Canis Minor,” Gabrielle replied with a sly grin.</p><p>Blue made a face, “I can’t believe some of the names Honey suggested! He wanted to name him Sirius and then made a bunch of bad “serious” puns.”</p><p>“That does sound like him.”</p><p>“The least he could do is make his puns clever,” Blue groused.</p><p>Gabrielle just laughed. Around then Blue had to pack up from lunch and head back to his classroom. With one last pet and an admonishment to “be better for Gabrielle” he said his goodbyes and left.</p><p>Eventually the day wound to a close. There were only a couple minutes left until the final bell so Blue told his class, “And that’s about all the time today.” He had to raise his voice over the sounds of students eagerly packing away tablets and notebooks, “Don’t forget, I should have your speeches back to you on Wednesday, we’ll be splitting class time between practice and studying for the final after that. And once again: I understand if you do some editing between now and actually giving your speech, but if you go off topic or break any of the school rules you will get a zero, and this counts as half your final.”</p><p>There were several loud groans from the students and one very loud, “We know already.”</p><p>“I know, and I hate to keep harping on this, but after a few fiascoes from past students,” the bell rang, impeccable timing as always, “I’ve really had to crack down or risk having to give up offering this class,” Blue finished in a rush. “See you guys on Wednesday.”</p><p>Most of the students cheerfully said their goodbyes as they filed out. Blue waved as they left, then went to his own desk to pack up. He looked up when he heard the door open.</p><p>“Hello, Blue.”</p><p>“Good afternoon, Hilary, how’re you?”</p><p>Hilary was the other English teacher, a human with pale skin and hair, and technically the department head. Not that that meant much when their department consisted of only two English teachers and one Spanish teacher. “I’m fine, just wanted to make sure everything is still on track before finals.”</p><p>“Mostly, there was a bit of a delay getting everyone’s speeches approved, but I always schedule in a little extra time for just such a hiccup.”</p><p>“Oh dear, what happ-”</p><p>The door burst open and Charlene barged in, “I heard you got a cat!”</p><p>“Hello, Charlene! How are you on this fine day?” Blue asked through a grin so wide it hurt.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, n-nice weather, yadda yadda,” the stout, golden dragon said with a wave of her hand. “I saw your undernet p-post, nice selfie b-by the way, so what’s the story with little c-captain cone-of-shame?”</p><p>“Oh! Is that why you’re behind on grading papers?”</p><p>“I found a cat getting harassed by students, took him to the vet, found out just because he had a collar doesn’t mean he had an owner, and now I have a new pet shaped dent in my wallet.”</p><p>Charlene snorted, “I’ll bet, he looked like he belongs in the ICU.”</p><p>“Aw, poor thing, is he going to be okay?”</p><p>“Yes, he’ll be fine. The vet said he’ll likely make a full recovery and we might have even been in time to save his eye.”</p><p>Hilary gasped, “What’s wrong with his eye?”</p><p>“Here, I’ll sh-show you.” Charlene pulled out her phone and started tapping at the screen with Hilary eagerly looking over her shoulder.</p><p>“While you do that I’m just going to go pick him up from Gabrielle’s office.”</p><p>Both women squealed, “Can we come too?”</p><p>“Y-yeah, I wanna m-meet the little bugger!”</p><p>“Sure, but be gentle, he seems friendly enough but I don’t want to overwhelm him while he’s recovering.”</p><p>“It f-finally happened, you found s-someone new t-to mother hen.”</p><p>“I think it’s sweet,” Hilary countered.</p><p>“B-better a pet than your p-poor brother.”</p><p>“Honey’s doing just fine, thank you for asking,” Blue shot back with another strained grin.</p><p>“H-honey’s graduating this year, right? Are you gonna t-take the cat with you to the g-graduation?”</p><p>“Honey said he doesn’t want to bother walking when he’s going right back to the same school next year to start on his master’s.”</p><p>“Good for him, I’m glad he knows what he wants to do. And I’ll be honest, I did the same when I was still in school. It just doesn’t feel the same when you know college isn’t done yet.” Hilary sighed as she seemed to drift into a reminiscence.</p><p>They had arrived at the office by then, so Blue knocked on the door.</p><p>“Who is there?”</p><p>Right, Gabrielle still liked knock knock jokes. “Um… Itsa.”</p><p>“Itsa who?”</p><p>“It’s a bit crowded out here, can we come in?”</p><p>Gabrielle laughed, “Come in, come in.” There was a loud meow to go with Gabrielle’s invitation. Blue opened the door to find the cat standing on his hind legs and leaning against the playpen.</p><p>“Well aren’t you happy to see me? I’m happy to see you too.” Blue scooped up the cat, who immediately snuggled face first into his chest. The angle meant the cone of shame made it impossible to see or touch the cat’s face.</p><p>“H-he really seems to like you,” Charlene chuckled.</p><p>“He really is very fond of Blue, but I suppose I would be too if I were in the little one’s situation.”</p><p>“Like a knight in shining armor from some courtly romance, I bet,” Hilary teased.</p><p>“Goodness, I hope not!” Blue laughed, “Those are always too full of drama and usually have tragic endings. Why can’t I be a knight in shining armor from a fairy tale?”</p><p>“Because they’re never the heroes,” Hilary shot back.</p><p>Charlene rolled her eyes, “Nerds.” Then she stepped forward and started petting the cat. He didn’t budge at all.</p><p>“Don’t you want to say “hi” to my friends?” Blue asked down at the cat, “I promise they won’t hurt you.”</p><p>The cat grudgingly looked over at the two women.</p><p>“Y-yeesh, he looks like he l-lost a fight w-with a lawnmower.”</p><p>“Poor little baby, that eye’s all swollen.”</p><p>“Believe it or not it looks a lot better, at least the leaking has gone down.”</p><p>“What’s his name?” Hilary asked as she reached up to pet the cat. The cat turned his face back into Blue’s chest.</p><p>“I haven’t figured it out yet, it’s a big decision after all. I have until Saturday to decide, that’s when his next appointment is.”</p><p>“G-gonna turn the pre-finals p-party into an official introduction or s-something?”</p><p>“That’s not a bad idea, isn’t that right, Kitty? Find your name by Friday and tell everyone at the party? Huh?” The cat’s only reply was a grumble. “Hopefully I’ll figure out a good name by then, for now I need to get this guy home. He needs meds and to be fed. And all these assignments to grade and return. Oh right, Hilary, I’ll have the speeches returned on Wednesday, so we’re still on track for the public speaking half of the final.”</p><p>“Great, it would be a pain to reschedule this late.”</p><p>“That it would,” Gabrielle agreed a little severely. “I certainly hope you are keeping up with your work load, Mr. Swapson.”</p><p>“Yes, Miss Dreemurr,” Blue sing-songed. “For now I’ll leave you to it. Let’s get you back in your carrier, young man.” The cat grumbled, but didn’t fight going back into his carrier. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So I know I tend to just throw things in so for those curious: Gabrielle is Swap Toriel and Charlene is Swap Alphys. Any more about them is going to be revealed slowly as the story goes, mostly because it's not relevant to the plot. Kinda. I mean, they're Blue's friends/coworkers so they'll be hanging around and helping move the plot around but the fact that Gabrielle is called "Miss" while clearly having children isn't really relevant to the plot, you know?</p><p>Any guesses on what Kitty's name is going to be?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Blue finally has that party he's been getting ready for all week! And then it's time for his newly named cat's follow up appointment.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Blue did NOT curse to himself as the grill failed to light. Again. It was a close thing though, he definitely felt the urge to curse the coals that just were not lighting. But he wouldn’t let these coals beat him, he was going to get them lit and soon because he absolutely was <b>not</b> going to let Charlene’s datefriend take over trying to light the grill again. His neighbors had complained enough the first time. Well desperate times called for desperate measures, he reluctantly squirted a bit more lighter fluid, then tried again. The flame finally took. Blue cheered with a fist pump, then quickly turned around to head back into the house. He needed to hide the lighter fluid before Charlene and her datefriend arrived.</p>
<p>What luck, the living room was empty. As quietly as possible Blue slid the door closed behind him, then walked as softly as possible across the living room to the garage door. Alas, his stealth skills needed some work, there was a chirpy noise followed by his cat walking eagerly up to him.</p>
<p>“Hello, Orion. I’ll be with you right after I go hide this from Naiad.”</p>
<p>The cat gave a soft half purr half meow and tried to rub against Blue’s moving legs. Predictably he followed, trilling more meows as he tried to follow Blue into the garage. He basically had to squeeze out the door and practically shut it on himself to keep the cat from following him, but he managed it somehow. Once the lighter fluid was hidden he came back in, much easier as he’d learned the cat did not seem to care about the garage if Blue wasn’t in it.</p>
<p>“Yes, Orion, I missed you those five minutes I was out of sight too,” Blue sighed as he finally gave into his cat’s demands for attention. The cat’s only response was to stand up on his hind legs and beg to be picked up. “You’re such a sweetheart, Orion,” Blue crooned as he picked the cat up. Perhaps it was cheating to just use the name he wanted than testing out others, but he really, really liked the name! Blue continued petting the cat as he walked to his bedroom, now came the hard part.</p>
<p>“Okay, Orion, I have to finish getting ready for the party. Be good and stay inside.” He set the cat down on the bed, then tried to get out the bedroom door before he could escape again. The cat, predictably, jumped down from the bed and raced for the door, but Blue managed to keep him inside long enough to shut the door. The muffled cry of despair that drifted through the door only broke his heart into a <em>few</em> jagged pieces.</p>
<p>The cat safely contained, Blue was able to open the back door so he could pass through freely while he set up everything else for the party, checking on the grill as he passed by to make sure nothing had caught on fire or the coals hadn’t randomly gone out. Everything was looking good, he was on course to start grilling up hot dogs and burgers when his guests arrived.</p>
<p>The doorbell rang. Blue hurried to go answer it, “Gabrielle! Glad you could make it, come in. Come in!” He ushered her inside excitedly, like he hadn’t just seen her an hour ago, “Oh, what’d you bring?”</p>
<p>Gabrielle held up a gallon sized bucket, “French vanilla ice cream, it will go well with the pie.”</p>
<p>Blue couldn’t help smiling, of course she brought a pie. “We’d better keep it cold then, think it’ll be fine in the fridge until everyone gets here?”</p>
<p>“Certainly! And perhaps on the soft side, as ice cream ought to be.”</p>
<p>Blue laughed, “Right?” Once the ice cream was stowed away he couldn’t help eyeing the towel covered round item she’d set on his counter. “So… what flavor is it?” He lifted a corner of the towel to get a peek.</p>
<p>“It is a cherry crumb pie.”</p>
<p>There was a faint meow behind them. Blue whipped around to see his cat standing right where the living room met the hallway, and to his right Blue saw the back door still standing wide open. With speed he hadn’t needed since Honey was a toddler Blue was across the room and scooping the cat up. Once he had him firmly in his arms he closed the back door, then locked it for good measure. “Orion! You naughty boy! How did you get out of the bedroom?”</p>
<p>“Are you sure you want to name him Orion? I am sure Houdini would be a much better name for your little escape artist.”</p>
<p>“I would seriously consider it if I weren’t 110% sure you and Honey would make Hairy Houdini puns.”</p>
<p>There was no shame in Gabrielle’s giggle. “Harry would be the perfect name for him though, especially once his fur grows back out. Is that not right, little trouble maker?” She reached out to pet him now that Blue had settled back against the counter.</p>
<p>Blue sighed and decided to change the subject, “Aren’t cherries-”</p>
<p>The cat meowed and rubbed his head against Blue’s chin.</p>
<p>“… ripe in the spring?” Blue continued. “Don’t tell me you finally gave in and used store bought pie filling.”</p>
<p>“I would never!” Gabrielle said with a dramatic gasp, complete with a hand over her Soul. “You do not pay much attention when you are at the grocery store, young man! Fresh cherries-”</p>
<p>The cat meowed again, this time at Gabrielle.</p>
<p>“… are available year round…” Gabrielle trailed off. “Did you notice that?”</p>
<p>“Yes, I think the first time he meowed you’d just said cherry.”</p>
<p>The cat meowed again.</p>
<p>Gabrielle grinned all the broader. “Is that your name, little one? Do you wish to be called Cherry?”</p>
<p>The cat chirped and turned his attention back to Gabrielle.</p>
<p>“Orion,” Blue called. “Do you want a treat?’ The cat was too busy getting his fluffy cheeks scratched by Gabrielle to notice. “Cherry?”</p>
<p>The cat made another chirpy noise and snuggled up to Blue’s neck.</p>
<p>“Oh my goodness, he really <b>does</b> want to be called Cherry!” Blue said in disbelief.</p>
<p>“Congratulations, you have found his name!”</p>
<p>Blue sighed, “I really wanted to name him Orion though.”</p>
<p>The doorbell interrupted any further conversation. When Blue opened the door he found Charlene and her datefriend standing on his doorstep, Charlene holding a pack of colorful cupcakes. “Hey, nerd!”</p>
<p>“You’re a teacher!” Blue shot back with a laugh even as he waved them in.</p>
<p>“Yeah, a <b>gym</b> t-teacher!”</p>
<p>“It is the least nerdy subject,” Naiad agreed.</p>
<p>“You’re a scientist!” Blue protested.</p>
<p>“A forensics scientist, that makes me cool.”</p>
<p>“So very c-cool! Oh, hi Gabrielle.”</p>
<p>“Hello Charlene, Naiad, it is good to see the both of you. Did Blue tell you he found his cat’s name?”</p>
<p>“I thought y-you settled on Orion?” Charlene set her pack of cupcakes down next to the pie.</p>
<p>“He had a different idea,” Blue said blandly while motioning to the cat that was pressing himself to his chest, “meet Cherry.”</p>
<p>Charlene burst out laughing, “Oh that’s just <b>too</b> perfect! Cherry! He fits right into your family, doesn’t he? Got a theme going! We got Blueberry-”</p>
<p>“Wait, Blue is short for Blueberry?” Naiad asked in surprise.</p>
<p>“… and your brother Honey,” Charlene continued through a round hearty guffaws, “and now your cat Cherry! What’s next? Gonna get a black dog named Blackberry? A little kitty friend for Cherry named Raspberry? You can call them Razz for short! Oh! If it’s an orange cat you can name them Mandarin! No wait, better yet! Name them Clementine!!!” Charlene dissolved into a fit of giggles and leaned against a guffawing Naiad for support.</p>
<p>“I think you are laying it on a little thick,” Gabrielle said as severely as possible while fighting off a sneaky smile of her own.</p>
<p>“It’s alright, I know she’s not trying to be mean.”</p>
<p>“Sorry, s-sorry,” Charlene gasped out between laughs. “Gabrielle’s right, that was a little too much. It’s just… you got a <b>theme</b>! That’s pretty funny.”</p>
<p>“It is pretty funny,” Blue agreed. “You can blame my parents. Though that is quite the coincidence Cherry picked out such a perfect name. Isn’t it nice to fit in?” Blue cooed at Cherry with a few gentle pets.</p>
<p>Cherry grumbled a little, but at least looked up at the latest guests.</p>
<p>“G-good to finally officially meet you, Ch-Cherry.” Charlene held a hand up to him. Cherry pressed his face against Blue’s chest so the cone made it impossible to touch his head at all.</p>
<p>“I think he’s getting a little overwhelmed again.”</p>
<p>“Y-yeah, he p-p-probably i-is.”</p>
<p>“Let’s see if-”</p>
<p>The doorbell rang.</p>
<p>“Uh… let’s go see who that is,” Blue said cheerfully as he went to go answer the door. “Oh, Gabrielle, can you go check on the grill? Everything’s already set up in the back if you guys want to move this out there.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, your kitchen’s gonna get pretty crowded pretty fast otherwise.” Naiad followed Gabrielle towards the backdoor.</p>
<p>Blue opened the door, standing on his doorstep was Carl Rodriguez, the Spanish teacher, and his family.</p>
<p>“Carl, Barbara, Rachel, Sarah, Mary, so good of you all to come.”</p>
<p>Cherry made a desperate little sound and clawed his way higher up Blue’s chest, like he was trying to cram his whole body into the crook of Blue’s neck.</p>
<p>“Go ahead and head out back, most everyone else is already here. That fruit salad is lovely, Barbara, thank you. I’m just going to get this little guy tucked away, he’s still recovering you know. I’ll be out in a minute.” Blue smiled and waved the family on through, then headed right for his bedroom. He sat on the bed and tried to coax Cherry to climb down, “There, I know, too many people all crowded into your new home all at once. Come on, you can just stay here where it’s nice and dark and quiet and smells like you and me. Stay here and no one else will bother you for the rest of the evening, how’s that sound?”</p>
<p>Amazingly when he lifted the blanket Cherry actually did jump down and shoot under it, curling up in his own little blanket cave.</p>
<p>“Good job, Cherry! Such a good boy, now just stay here until the party’s over, and no sneaking out, okay? I’ll come check on you in a little bit.” He gave the blanket over Cherry a little pat, then carefully closed the door behind him before heading outside.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The next day found him walking into the Deltarune Animal Hospital, cat carrier tucked under his arm. Dr. Nereid was leaning against the front desk chatting with Hickory, they both perked up when Blue walked in.</p>
<p>“Here for your appointment?” The doctor asked eagerly, hands already out for the carrier.</p>
<p>“Chill, Nereid, you gotta let him check in first. Remember what happened last time?”</p>
<p>“Ugh, fine! Get him checked in already!”</p>
<p>Hickory turned to Blue with the most customer-service-smile he’d ever seen. “Welcome to the Deltarune Animal Hospital, how can I help you today?”</p>
<p>Dr. Nereid grunted and threw her hands up.</p>
<p>“Hello, Hickory! Swapson here for <em>Cherry’s</em> appointment.” Blue motioned to Cherry’s carrier as he spoke, there was a little meow from said carrier when Blue said his name.</p>
<p>“Oh cool, so you named the little guy?” Hickory asked as he typed away. “We’ll have to take care of that today then. So you’re all checked in, the doctor will be with you shortly.”</p>
<p>Dr. Nereid rolled her eyes and held out her hands.</p>
<p>Blue put the carrier in her hands, “Be good for the doctor, Cherry.”</p>
<p>There was another little meow.</p>
<p>“Normally I’d invite you back with him, but injuries can get pretty gross and I’m going to be inspecting his stitches.”</p>
<p>“We gotta talk about his chip anyway,” Hickory said with a wave.</p>
<p>“Hopefully this’ll be quick, you nerds behave yourselves while we’re in the back!” Dr. Nereid disappeared through the door.</p>
<p>“So what’s going on with his chip?” Blue asked.</p>
<p>“Alright, so we had to go through the chip registry for this because uh… that other cat’s owner was a bit uncooperative. But! We were able to get all the confusion cleared up, the other owner has agreed to relinquish ownership of the chip since she has no use for it and Cherry is provably not hers. That’s great for us because tearing out a chip and putting a new one in is kind of a pain, especially for the poor animal.”</p>
<p>“I’ll bet!”</p>
<p>“Anyway, here’s all the information and documentation you’ll need for dealing with the chip registry, you should call them to set up instructions and also tell them Cherry’s name. If you move or anything else changes you’ll need to call them up and inform them.”</p>
<p>“Right, that makes sense.”</p>
<p>“So anyway, how’s having a pet treating ya?”</p>
<p>“It’s great! Cherry’s a little sweetheart, whenever we’re home he follows me around and insists on cuddling whenever I’m sitting.”</p>
<p>“Awwww, that really sounds sweet! Poor little guy knows you saved him.”</p>
<p>“I really think he does. It can be a bit frustrating when he opens closed doors to come find me though, I’m worried he’s going to get outside and wander off.”</p>
<p>“Oof, once cats learn to open doors there’s no stopping them.”</p>
<p>“I’m trying to find a way to keep him contained, but if he doesn’t need that middle of the day dose anymore I can at least start leaving him home. Cat’s can’t open sliding doors, right? Or deadbolts?”</p>
<p>“Not that I’ve heard of, but you haven’t been leaving him home?”</p>
<p>“I couldn’t, he needs a dose in the middle of lunch.”</p>
<p>“Alright, I get that, but you’re going to change the routine again after only a week?”</p>
<p>“I don’t really have much choice, I can’t exactly have him in the classroom all day. Plus he gets anxious when there are too many people around, and I don’t even know how he’d react to students in general considering he was being harassed by students when I found him.”</p>
<p>Hickory sighed, “Yeah, that all makes sense. Rescues are always a lot of extra work.”</p>
<p>“And he’s worth it!”</p>
<p>“He very much is, I ain’t gonna say otherwise. But if he’s with you all day now what are you going to do for any separation anxiety he could have when he starts staying home?”</p>
<p>“Oh he’s not staying with me right now, he’s being kept in the principal’s office. But that’s still a good point, I never thought about separation anxiety. Is there anything I can do?”</p>
<p>“Let’s see…” Hickory pushed his office chair across the small reception space and started rifling through some boxes on a low shelf. “Aha!” He wheeled back over and held out a pamphlet that said “Separation Anxiety, Identification and Resources” across the top. “It’s mostly on identifying whether or not your pet has separation anxiety and where to go for more information, but it’s a start. And hey, maybe you’ll be really, really lucky and he won’t have it.”</p>
<p>“Maybe,” Blue said skeptically as he thought about how upset Cherry would get just from being in a different part of the house. The tiny house at that!</p>
<p>“So, does he like your principal?”</p>
<p>They chatted a bit more, Blue told Hickory about Cherry’s escape antics and refusal to use a litter box, about how anxious he got when his guests arrived, how Cherry seemed to like Gabrielle but not Charlene, then he got derailed into talking about Charlene and her datefriend.</p>
<p>“… and there’s still a scorch spot on my lawn, we’re lucky the whole backyard didn’t light up!”</p>
<p>“We’re done!” Dr. Nereid announced.</p>
<p>“Oh! How’s Cherry? Was he well behaved?” Blue took the carrier back and peeked inside. Cherry was loafed up, cone still on, and looking very grumpy about his visit.</p>
<p>“Yeah, he was pretty calm for most of it, so I guess last week wasn’t a fluke. And his recovery is going pretty well all things considered, all his scratches healed up nicely. His stitches will fall out there own this week and so far there are no complications there. His respiratory infection hasn’t cleared up as much as I’d like, but it is clearing up. His eye…” Dr. Nereid trailed off then and sighed. “His eye’s not looking too good. The infection seems to be worse than I first diagnosed and is clearing up very slowly, and I did a test on his vision…” another sigh, “there’s no easy way to say this. He can’t see out of that eye, I’m sorry. There’s still a chance once the infection does clear up he’ll get his vision back, but it’s not very likely.”</p>
<p>“Oh my poor little Cherry!”</p>
<p>“It’s not so bad, his other eye works just fine! He’s not completely blind at least, but it does mean his depth perception is uh… it’s just not. No depth perception, he’s gonna have trouble judging distances. He absolutely <b>cannot</b> be an outside cat.”</p>
<p>Blue nodded, “Of course! I wouldn’t let him be one anyway, it’s dangerous out there.”</p>
<p>“Good. So now let’s talk drugs,” she held up a plastic bag and started pulling out more medicines to explain to him. “… mostly it’s just more of the same, this antibiotic is just stronger than the last one so we can kick his infection’s uh… booty.” Dr. Nereid coughed uncomfortably. “Anyway, appointment next week to check on that eye again and also make sure the stitches all came out on their own.”</p>
<p>“Yes, doctor,” Blue said with a snicker.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And with that we're now caught up to Sans! So we can get back to his side of the story next chapter, how exciting! I can't wait, I've honestly been looking forward to this next chapter for a while.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Red meets one more member of Sans's family. There are tears.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning the apartment, going on an epic shopping spree, setting everything they (that is: Papyrus) had just bought (with Sans’s money), all topped with Papyrus practically forcing Sans into his own shower before he was allowed to set foot in Papyrus’s car. Fair enough, Sans was rather gross and sweaty. He’d still be gross and sweaty after the shower, but at least it’d be fresh gross sweat. Cat fed, freshly showered and changed, apartment cleaner that it’d ever been since he moved in, Sans was ready to go. Soon the pair were in Papyrus’s car, racing through the streets of Old Home with the top down and the wind caressing their skulls.</p>
<p>They arrived at the quaint little two-story house Papyrus shared with their dad, Sans was the only one with an independent streak unruly enough to insist on living on his own. Then again Papyrus doesn’t have to live <b>and</b> work with their dad. “We’re home!” Papyrus announced as they walked in through the front door, dropping his keys in a little bowl in the entryway.</p>
<p>“Welcome home,” drifted faintly from the direction of the kitchen/dining room combo. They walked into the room to find Gaster hovering nervously in the kitchen, mysterious things happening in the oven area. Gaster abandoned the mysterious happenings to pull Sans and Papyrus into hugs, “Hello boys, how was your trip?”</p>
<p>“Quick and safe,” Papyrus assured.</p>
<p>“Wonderful, you can tell me more in just a moment, dinner’s just about done. Be a pair of dears and set the table for me, please.”</p>
<p>“Of course.”</p>
<p>“Sure thing, Pops.” Sans set out plates while Papyrus gathered silverware, cups, and a bottle juice. It turned out to be sparkling crab apple cider, which Sans wouldn’t argue with. Soon they were all sitting at the table with plates full of steaming food.</p>
<p>“So how was your week?” Gaster asked eagerly. “How’re Alphys and Undyne?”</p>
<p>“Are you asking about whether or not Alphys has compiled her test results yet? ‘Cause she did.”</p>
<p>Gaster frowned at Sans, “I already know about her test results and no, I’m not asking about those. I’m already well aware of everything that goes on in my lab. Let’s leave work at work, yes? I haven’t seen you outside of work since our last family dinner, so how was your week?”</p>
<p>“Pretty good,” Sans said between bites of food. “Undyne finally asked Alphys out, so she’s pretty over the moon about that.”</p>
<p>“What? And she hasn’t told me yet?!” Papyrus asked in mock indignation. “But still, how wonderful! I thought she’d never work up the nerve to talk to her. Imagine that, the Captain of the Royal Guard nervous about asking someone out.”</p>
<p>“Nothing can really prepare you for those kinds of feelings, Papyrus. I hope someday you can be just as anxious over a crush.”</p>
<p>“That’s a weird way to put it,” Sans said dubiously.</p>
<p>“It’s true! I hope both of you get to someday feel the roller coaster that is love. Heaven knows I’m already getting old and probably won’t live to meet my grandchildren.”</p>
<p>“Dad, you’re not even 200 yet. Sans only just turned 68, we both still have plenty of time to meet someone and have a whirlwind romance before settling down and having a couple little baby bones for you to come visit in our nice house with a white picket fence and a pet or two. In fact Sans just got a pet today, so he’s already got a start.”</p>
<p>“What?!” Gaster dropped his fork and pressed his hands to his Soul, “I have a fur grandbaby?”</p>
<p>“A what?”</p>
<p>“It’s something Alphys told me about a while ago, some humans refer to their mammalian pets as fur babies, ergo as your father your fur baby is my fur grandbaby.”</p>
<p>“Can we not call my trash goblin that ever again?”</p>
<p>“Can we not call your cat a trash goblin?” Papyrus asked in his most offended tone.</p>
<p>Sans shrugged, “I found him in the trash, what else would I re-fur to him as?”</p>
<p>“A cat?” Papyrus asked incredulously, “Or his name???”</p>
<p>Gaster stood up, “Alright, let’s go. No time to waste!”</p>
<p>“What? Where are we going?” Papyrus asked in confusion as he stood from the table as well.</p>
<p>“Why to go meet my new grandkitty, of course.”</p>
<p>Papyrus stared at their father in disbelief, “Right now? In the middle of dinner?!”</p>
<p>“It’s human food Pops, it’ll go bad.”</p>
<p>“The very worst it will do is go cold, we can reheat it when we get back.”</p>
<p>“Or we can finish eating now and then you won’t have anything pressing to bring you back home before you’re ready.”</p>
<p>“I can tell you how I found him while we eat,” Sans bargained.</p>
<p>Gaster sat back down with a pout, “Oh fine. But you had better tell me the whole entire story.”</p>
<p>Sans did so, sparing no detail as he slowly ate. Gaster shoveled the food into his mouth while Sans talked, then sat there with wide, rapt eye sockets as he listened to Sans’s story. “… so once we got home from the shopping trip we had to get all the stuff we just bought set up. We started with dinner for Red, of course, he seemed to really like the brand we picked out. Then while he was-”</p>
<p>“Yes, yes, I get the picture,” Gaster interrupted with a wave of his hands. “Are you finished yet? I want to go meet him.”</p>
<p>“Not yet, it’s kinda hard to eat and talk at the same time. You wouldn’t want your child to <em>choke</em>, would you?”</p>
<p>“Your story’s done, eat!”</p>
<p>“Sir yes sir,” Sans said with a wide grin as he shoved another bite into his teeth.</p>
<p>Gaster got up and started bustling about the kitchen, by the time Sans was done he’d packed up all the leftovers and piled them into a grocery bag. It bore a remarkable resemblance to the grocery bag full of empty, freshly washed tupperware containers Papyrus had brought back from Sans’s place with them. “All set, let’s go let’s go let’s go!”</p>
<p>“You’re really excited about this.”</p>
<p>“I have a grandbaby!”</p>
<p>“He’s gonna give a few people heart attacks tomorrow,” Sans joked as he let Gaster herd them back out to Papyrus’s car.</p>
<p>“I don’t know whether to be glad or disappointed that I won’t be there to see the disaster in action.”</p>
<p>“I can record it.”</p>
<p>“Not without their permission you won’t, young man.”</p>
<p>They were outside now and Gaster was suddenly met with a dilemma. Admittedly it was a very minor dilemma, one they’d had several times before and therefore shouldn’t surprise anyone by now: Papyrus’s shiny red sports car could only seat two.</p>
<p>Sans took the bag of leftovers, “See ya at the house.”</p>
<p>“Alright, we’ll be there soon.”</p>
<p>“Be safe!” Gaster called, like a short dip through the void wasn’t infinitely safer than riding around in a screaming metal death trap. A really cool one, even Sans could appreciate the way the engine purred, but still a screaming metal death trap.</p>
<p>Sans gave a lazy wave and shortcut right into his living room. Something heavy thumped down onto his carpeted floor. Sans looked over to see the tail end of his new cat disappear into the kitchen. Huh, must’ve startled him. Sans just shrugged and unlocked the front door before heading into the kitchen himself, bag of leftovers in hand.</p>
<p>Red came cautiously limping up, nose first of course. Sans ignored him while he tried to remember which kinds of human foods needed to be kept cold and which shouldn’t. Red jumped on the counter and shoved his head into the bag.</p>
<p>“Oh boy, that’s not good. You need to get down.” Sans picked Red up and set him down. Red immediately jumped back onto the counter. “You’re a little shit, aren’t you?”</p>
<p>Red responded by rubbing his whole body up against Sans’s chest, then went back to curiously nosing through the containers.</p>
<p>Sans put Red back on the floor, but he immediately jumped up again, this time batting at the container of leftover roast beef. “Little shit confirmed, good to know.” Sans sighed, but chose to just ignore Red as he finished putting everything away. When he picked up the beef he swore Red said “hey” indignantly at him. Sans just put the container in the fridge and shut it firmly.</p>
<p>With all the goodies safely out of cat reach (hopefully), Sans picked up Red and carried him into his tiny apartment’s tiny living room. Not five seconds after he sat down there was someone knocking enthusiastically on his door. Sans groaned but got up to go let his family in. Papyrus and Gaster both bounced eagerly into the living room, Gaster making a beeline for the couch the moment he laid eye pips on Red.</p>
<p>Red was surprisingly calm as Gaster approached, merely sniffing at him as he rushed up to the couch. Gaster paused, then looked back at Sans accusingly, “He has one of those collar things!”</p>
<p>“Well yeah, the vet gave it to him to uhhh… keep him from messing with his face?”</p>
<p>“Bandaged foot,” Papyrus corrected.</p>
<p>“Oh you poor baby,” Gaster cooed as he picked Red up. It looked like he was trying to do everything the guides Papyrus had found warned not to do. Gaster cuddled Red close, smothering him in affection while leaving his little feet to dangle unsupported.</p>
<p>Red looked like he was just barely tolerating the attention.</p>
<p>“Dad, that’s not how cats like to be held…” Papyrus started, already digging his phone out.</p>
<p>Tears welled up in Gaster’s eye sockets, then dripped down his face as he cuddled Red even closer.</p>
<p>“Uh… you ok there, Pops?”</p>
<p>“He’s been through so much! Look at his little bandaged paw and all his shaved hair! And he’s still such a sweetheart about it!” He buried his face in Red’s back, his forehead awkwardly bumping the cone.</p>
<p>“Alright, how about you sit down?” Sans took his dad’s elbow and led him over to the couch so he could sit down and be overwhelmed without leaving Red’s feet dangling. Red was actually being pretty calm for having a stranger clinging to him and crying on him. Then again he’d been pretty calm since the moment Papyrus fed him, so maybe that was just his personality.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry Dad, he has a loving home now and he’s being taken care of,” Papyrus said cheerfully as he sat down next to their dad, then patted him on the back.</p>
<p>“Yes, yes I know. I’m just so excited to have a grandbaby.”</p>
<p>Red made another startled noise that sounded a lot like he said “hey” again, or maybe it was more of a “huh” this time, probably getting tired of Gaster squeezing him so tight. And then Gaster pulled Red up so he could rub their faces together, unlucky cat was really getting all the affection today.</p>
<p>“Dad, most cats aren’t very fond of people they’ve just me being so overly affectionate with them,” Papyrus tried to say gently.</p>
<p>“Well tough, I’m his grandfather now and he’s just going to have to get used to all this love and attention. Besides, he likes it, isn’t that right Red?” Gaster cooed the last bit down at Red, who didn’t deign to respond. Then Gaster held Red up to his shoulder like he was trying to burp him and pet him with long strokes, from cone to tail. Red just sighed and seemed to accept his fate.</p>
<p>After a while of Red just limply laying against Gaster while Gaster happily pet Red, Gaster finally seemed to realize something wasn’t quite right. “He doesn’t seem to do much.”</p>
<p>“Cut him some slack, it’s been a long day. Plus you gotta take into account the whole injured thing.”</p>
<p>“Yes Dad, he suddenly went from living in a dumpster to having a home and a loving family in the span of one afternoon, he’s probably a little overwhelmed.”</p>
<p>“That’s true, poor little dear,” Gaster cooed as he looked close to bawling his eye pips out again.</p>
<p>“Welp! It’s getting late, and we both have work in the morning, Pops.”</p>
<p>Gaster sighed, “It’s sadly true.” He let Red go, but the cat just stayed laying up against his shoulder. Curiously Gaster tried moving Red off his shoulder. Red gave a little stretch, then curled up in Gaster’s lap.</p>
<p>“He likes me!” Gaster squealed in delight.</p>
<p>“Congratulations!” Papyrus crowed with equal delight.</p>
<p>“I can’t get up.”</p>
<p>“Oh, I’ve heard of this! It’s a rule, a person with a pet on their lap isn’t allowed to move until the pet does.”</p>
<p>“Well if it’s a rule,” Sans drawled as he got up and had a little stretch of his own, “then I guess it can’t be helped. You two have a good night, lock the door on your way out if you leave.”</p>
<p>“What?” Papyrus asked indignantly. “Where are you going?!”</p>
<p>“Bed, I have work in the morning.” Sans gave a lazy wave as he shuffled towards his bedroom.</p>
<p>Gaster laughed, “Sans, come back! Come get your cat, I’m quite capable of getting up.”</p>
<p>Sans did go back. Gaster had stood with Red in his arms, the cat still somehow looking completely unimpressed despite Sans having just watched him settle down in Gaster’s lap not even a minute ago. Sans took the offered cat and tucked him close to his body like all the how-to-hold-a-cat tutorials had recommended. “Have a good night, drive safe, see you in the morning.”</p>
<p>“We will,” Papyrus said cheerfully.</p>
<p>“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Gaster said, then quickly pulled Sans’s skull close enough to lean down and drop a kiss on top. “Have a good night.”</p>
<p>Sans closed the door behind his family, locked it, then set Red down on the floor. “Alright, I’m hitting the hay. You’re welcome to bed down with me or whatever.”</p>
<p>Red made this kind of chirpy noise and went right over to one of the three cat trees Papyrus had picked out and put together, climbed it, then settled down in the bed on top. That worked for Sans.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Gaster is such a dork and I love him. He's going to spoil his new grandkitty the best he can. Also he's a bit inspired by <a href="https://twitter.com/i/events/1208477456698613760">Cat Sans Comic by Seto</a> on twitter. So good! So pure! TuT</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sans and Red take a little time to get used to each other.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The alarm started blaring. Loudly.</p>
<p>Sans groaned and felt around on the floor until he found his phone, turned off the alarm, and rolled back over. He still had some time before he absolutely had to be up. He was just starting to drift off when the alarm went off again. Sans grumbled and rolled over to turn it off again. Weird, had he snoozed it on accident? He made sure the alarm was actually off and determinedly rolled back over. Just as he was starting to relax and feel like he might catch a few more Zs the alarm went off yet again. Frustrated, Sans sat up and picked up his phone yet again. He turned the alarm off (wait, it was WHAT time?!?!) then unlocked his phone to open up his alarm app. There was a total of ten alarms all set to go off within five minutes of each other. And also get progressively louder. And more annoying.</p>
<p>Sans wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed at Papyrus or appreciate a well executed jape. Considering the names of the alarms he was leaning more towards annoyance. Ah well, Sans was awake now, he may as well get up and have an actual cup of coffee before work. Sans stretched and stood, yawning and scratching his sacrum as he blearily zombie walked into the kitchen.</p>
<p>He had gotten so far as starting the coffee going before he noticed the full shopping bag on the counter. And then something furry wound between his legs. “Oh right, I have a pet now.”</p>
<p>Red looked up at Sans with large, shining eyes, let out a soft little “mrrrp” sound, opened his dainty mouth, and shrieked like some sort of angry hell demon.</p>
<p>“Guess you’re hungry, huh?”</p>
<p>Sans was met with more shrieking.</p>
<p>“Alright, breakfast it is.” Sans left his coffee to brew and set about digging through the bag on the counter. Right, meds. He quickly read over the instructions to remind himself what he was supposed to do, measured out the amounts he needed, then dosed the cat. Like he had the day before, Red was very calm even while he looked like he was just done with the world. “You got resting done-with-everything face, huh?” Sans gave Red a few pets, then set him down.</p>
<p>Red screeched again. Sans got him his breakfast, then finally got his fresh cup of coffee. Blessed ambrosia, gift from the gods… once he added a little sugar and creamer anyway. Sans enjoyed his first sip, really savored that hit of caffeine. Then snorted at a silly ear worm that suddenly infested him.</p>
<p>“The worst part of waking up is fucking waking up🎶”</p>
<p>As if trying to sing along, Red shrieked again.</p>
<p>“Thanks, good to know I can keep singer as a backup career.”</p>
<p>Red shrieked yet again, then pawed at his bowl so it loudly scraped across the floor.</p>
<p>Sans frowned for a moment, then shrugged and set his coffee aside. “The doc did say to fatten you up.” He opened another can and plopped the food in Red’s bowl, Red happily attacked his second breakfast just as loudly as his first. Sans sat down at the table to finish drinking his coffee and scroll through his morning routine. He checked for any reminders he left himself, his calendar, his e-mail. That done he gauged the time, it was still quite early, he didn’t <em>have</em> to leave quite yet. On the other hand he did want to get there in time to film everyone’s reactions to his dad’s news.</p>
<p>Red shrieked and scraped his bowl again.</p>
<p>“Yeesh, you’re just a bottomless pit, aren’t you?” He looked, the bowl had been licked clean again. Well the poor thing had been starving when Sans found him, the vet had even said he was pretty underweight under all that matted fur she’d shaved off. “Alright, but don’t expect to keep getting fed so much, this is just until you’re more than just skin and bones.” The cat snorted, Sans laughed to himself but did as he promised and plopped another can of food into the bowl. Then he headed to the bathroom for a quick shower.</p>
<p>Freshly washed and wearing work appropriate clothes that passed the sniff test, Sans double checked he had everything in his pockets as he headed out into the living room. He was met by shrieking.</p>
<p>“Hey Red, you finished your food?”</p>
<p>Red screeched and led Sans into the kitchen, glancing back every few steps. Yup, the bowl was licked clean again. This cat was going to eat him out of house and home. So this left Sans with a question: was Red genuinely hungry or was he just testing his boundaries. On the one hand Sans had found him digging in the garbage, presumably for dinner. On the other hand Red had proven he was a little shit. But his bowl was sparkling clean, surely if he wasn’t hungry he wouldn’t have licked it clean.</p>
<p>Sans sighed, “One more for breakfast, but I have to get to work and you’ll have to wait until later for more.” Sans plopped another can of wet food in the bowl, then while Red was busy inhaling it Sans took a shortcut to his work’s front door. “Hey Mark,” Sans said as he waved a the human receptionist, who smiled and waved back.</p>
<p>“’Mornin’, Mr. Gaster.”</p>
<p>Sans had to repress the simultaneous urges to laugh and cringe. He never could get the humans working there to call him by anything but his last name, Sans suspected that to them it was a constant reminder he’s their boss’s kid. Speaking of his dad, Sans pulled out his phone and prepped it to start recording as he went wandering around to find where Gaster was and who he’d already gotten to.</p>
<p>“… no, no, he’s Sans’s.” Gaster’s voice floated up from the office area.</p>
<p>“S-Sans’s?!” Alphys’s timid voice stuttered back.</p>
<p>“Yes! Sans found him in the dumpster yesterday, poor little thing was starving! So Sans adopted him and now I’m a grandfather.”</p>
<p>“Wat.” Alphys’s voice was completely flat.</p>
<p>“That doesn’t sound quite right,” Dr. Geraldine’s voice joined in.</p>
<p>Sans turned the corner with his phone already up and recording. Both doctors looked confused and horrified.</p>
<p>“His name’s Red, would you like to see him?” Gaster already had his phone out. Geraldine and Alphys crowded in close.</p>
<p>“Oh, h-he’s a little kitten! And look, the p-poor thing has t-to wear a cone.”</p>
<p>“But I don’t understand how the adoption went through so fast? Where are his parents?”</p>
<p>“Dunno,” Sans answered before Gaster could. “We thought we found a previous owner bu there’s something skeezy going on there.”</p>
<p>“O-o-o-owner?!”</p>
<p>Geraldine’s eyes went half lidded, “This isn’t a monster, is it?”</p>
<p>“Nope.”</p>
<p>“He’s my grandkitty! Sans’s new little furbaby, and I intend to spoil the poor thing.”</p>
<p>Sans snorted, “Little shit’s already a spoiled brat.”</p>
<p>“A-are you f-filming us?!”</p>
<p>“Oh yeah, Paps wanted to see everyone's reactions, that okay? I can delete it if not.”</p>
<p>“O-o-oh, well… if it’s j-just Papyrus.”</p>
<p>Geraldine walked over and looked right up into the lens, “Papyrus, please don’t share this with anyone else.”</p>
<p>Sans nodded, then turned the camera off and put his phone away. “So yeah, found an animal cat in the dumpster and now I’m the proud owner of a hungry little trash goblin.”</p>
<p>“He’s surprisingly mellow,” Gaster added.</p>
<p>“He wasn’t this morning, screamed at me until I fed him. Three times.”</p>
<p>“Is that normal?” Geraldine asked.</p>
<p>Sans shrugged, “The vet said he’s underweight and to feed him extra for now.”</p>
<p>Geraldine and Alphys both made sympathizing sounds. Then another coworker showed up and Gaster happily bounced off to tell them about his new grandkitty. The three of them trailed after.</p>
<hr/>
<p>“Alright, I’m heading out for lunch, be back in an hour,” Sans announced as he stood up from the lab table.</p>
<p>“So early?” Felix asked.</p>
<p>“Gotta feed the cat. And give him meds too.”</p>
<p>Felix just nodded and waved Sans off as he bent back over the calculations he’d been double checking. Sans took a sidestep to this nice little monster run deli shop in the heart of Old Home, then another sidestep over the line between carpet and the linoleum of his kitchen. He was not prepared for what he saw: his fridge door was wide open, just the dark tip of a furry tail visible from behind it.</p>
<p>“Uh…”</p>
<p>Something hard hit the ground and Red shot into view. He stopped dead in the middle of Sans’s tiny kitchen, Sans between him and the only exit. Red hunkered down right where he was, tail curled around his body. So apparently cats can open refrigerators, great. He’d have to look into getting a lock of some kind. Maybe. Cats can’t open tupperware, right? Sans set his takeout on the table and went to check the damage Red had done. The container of roast beef was sitting upside down on the floor, Sans picked it up, checked that it was still sealed, put it back in the fridge, then closed the door firmly. When he turned around Red was on the table with his head in the bag, though his collar was caught on the thing.</p>
<p>“How do you keep doing that?” Really, cats were obviously too much work. He should’ve made Papyrus take him, or let the vet call that other guy. Sans figured there was a good 50/50 chance they’d have taken Red in. “Alright, off the table. If you’re good for your meds I’ll let you have some of that beef you were sniffing at.” It’s just meat, and cats were allowed meat, right? It should be fine.</p>
<p>Red let out another indignant “Hey!” when Sans picked him up and set him down, but otherwise didn’t fight. Sans rolled up the top of his lunch bag, then set about getting out Red’s meds. He only needed one during lunch, and Red was unsurprisingly compliant while taking it, so Sans dropped a slice of roast beef into Red’s bowl on top of a can of cat food like he’d promised.</p>
<p>Red started eating like he was starving again. Sans took the moment of silence to start in on his own lunch, including the side that was his main reason for going to that particular deli: thick cut and perfectly seasoned potato wedges. It seemed Red felt the same way, the moment he was done inhaling his lunch he was up on the table again, shamelessly trying to steal the potatoes. Sans picked the cat up, set down his food, then set about trying to open a can of cat food one handed. He actually managed it well enough with Red tucked under his arm and his other hand just free enough to hold the can while his free hand pulled off the lid. It was pretty easy to drop Red and then plop the can into the sparkling clean bowl.</p>
<p>Sans sat down and went back to his own lunch. Red seemed to think it was a better option than his own canned food, he was on the table again. Sans couldn’t really blame him, he’d choose a cold sandwich and hot wedges over a can of cat food too. But this was his lunch, damnit!</p>
<p>“Okay, enough of this.” He turned Red’s Soul blue and gently changed his gravity to point at the ceiling. Red flailed in the air as he slowly rose up, but had his feet under him well before he touched the ceiling. Sans quickly packed his food up, slowly lowered Red back down to the floor, gave him a quick pet, then took a sidestep back to his office. “Lesson learned: don’t let Red near my food.”</p>
<p>“Oh Sans, you’re back early.” Gaster paused just outside the door to Sans’s office, which was wide open.</p>
<p>“Hey Pops, just uh… just finishing my lunch.” Sans motioned to the bag he’d dropped on his desk and was about to unpack again.</p>
<p>Gaster frowned, “You know we don’t like people bringing food this close to the labs.”</p>
<p>“I know, but Red wouldn’t keep his nose out. Doc warned that people food is pretty bad for cats.”</p>
<p>“How is my little grandkitty?” Gaster happily bounced through the doorway and settled himself into the chair across from Sans.</p>
<p>“Fine, he took his meds then started trying to steal my food. I think next time I’m going to feed him first then go get my lunch.”</p>
<p>“If that’s what it takes, can’t you teach him not to steal your food?”</p>
<p>“He’s an animal, Pops, you can’t just tell them what to do. They can’t understand.”</p>
<p>Gaster sighed, “Physical beings are so weird.”</p>
<p>Sans laughed, “Yeah, they sure are.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sans reevaluates his normal wake up time.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello! I'm back! I didn't forget about this fic, I just uh... had a slump??? I guess??? I dunno, I just didn't feel like writing this. Well we're just about done with set up so maybe I'll feel more like writing once we're done with the appetizer and start on the first course. It's gonna be fun!</p><p>It’s a fanfic, I can make all the references I want completely royalty free because I’m not making a single red cent off this!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sans’s Friday morning started with a yowl. Red was hanging from the knob of Sans’s bedroom door as it swung slowly inward, screaming at the top of his lungs while staring right at him. Sans groaned and reached for his phone.</p><p>“It’s six in the goddamned morning.”</p><p>Red dropped to the floor and sauntered up to the bed, still screaming.</p><p>It looked like Sans wasn’t going to get any more sleep that morning. With a groan he got up, followed a still intermittently screaming Red into the kitchen, and set about his new morning routine of starting his coffee, giving Red his meds, and then cat food. Nothing like a cup of fresh coffee to the background music of a cat messily eating then screeching for more.</p><p>Three cans of cat food and two cups of coffee later, Sans called it enough of a start and took a quick shower. When he got out he found Red sitting on one of his trees, industriously cleaning himself despite the fact all he was actually licking was the cone of shame. Sans quickly pulled out his phone and took a short video, he was sure his dad and coworkers would love it. They’d all been pestering him for cute cat pictures since Gaster first showed off Red. Alphys had even suggested remaking every cat meme ever with him, or at least for Sans to give her pictures to make bright shiny new memes with.</p><p>Sans went over and patted Red on the head, “You good, buddy?”</p><p>Red just grunted.</p><p>“Alright, I’ll see you at lunch.” He took a shortcut and sauntered back to the office area. Everyone immediately perked up and rushed over.</p><p>“How’s my little grandkitty today?” Gaster asked eagerly.</p><p>“Same as yesterday and the day before and the day before that. But I just took a video you might like.”</p><p>There were collective sounds of happiness from his coworkers as Sans pulled his phone back out and started the video.</p><p>“Oh, the p-poor thing!” Alphys said with a giggle. “You should start a youtube or ticktock channel for him, you’d get so many hits.”</p><p>Sans rolled his eyes, “Nah, sounds like too much work.”</p><p>“Well send them to me! I’ll be happy to do it, I can get him the whole social media portfolio: ticktock, instagram, even a twitter for advertising the other two and answering silly questions.”</p><p>“Not on company time,” Gaster said sternly.</p><p>Alphys blushed and kind of sunk in on herself, “R-right, that would t-t-take a lot of time.”</p><p>Sans patted Alphys on the shoulder, “I don’t plan to keep taking so many photos anyway, I’m sure once he gets the cone off he’ll be way less photogenic.”</p><p>“Don’t say that about my grandkitty! He’ll always be photogenic!”</p><p>“Would that video be half as interesting without the cone?”</p><p>“Yes!” Gaster insisted, “Look how far he’s sticking his little kitty leg out.”</p><p>“Stick m’ leggy out real far,” Alphys whispered with a giggle.</p><p>“I think it’s about time we actually get to work,” Geraldine cut in.</p><p>“Yes, quite right,” Gaster straightened his clothes. “Despite how utterly charming Red is we do have some work to do. Especially you, Dr. Alphys, I believe you have an appointment with Mettaton today.”</p><p>“Do I? Oh, r-right. Yes! it’s Friday, I can’t wait to show him the plans for upgrading his batteries.” Alphys giggled to herself sheepishly. “But before that, Sans I w-wanted to show you the latest b-b-ox expansion prototype. F-for some reason the extra box is showing up but I j-just can’t access it.”</p><p>“Yeah? Well let’s get that figured out then.” Sans followed Alphys as she led him back to her work room.</p><hr/><p>Sans stepped out of the shortcut and into the entryway of his home. Red must have gotten used to Sans’s schedule or figured out what shortcuts sound like because he started screaming immediately. The screaming cut off for a moment, overtaken by a heavy, muffled thump that sounded suspiciously like a furry bag of bricks hitting the floor, then the screaming started up again.</p><p>“Hey Red, how’s tricks?” Sans asked as he sauntered into the kitchen to begin Red’s medicine and lunch ritual. The question must have thrown the cat off, the screaming turned into a confused warble before ratcheting back up even louder than before. “You know I’m going to feed you no matter what, why are you screaming? It’s not like you need to wake me up.”</p><p>Red stood up on his hind legs and reached as high as he could. He must have quite the stretch, or maybe Sans was just that short, Red’s claws were pawing at Sans’s lower ribs. It was too perfect of an opportunity, Sans grabbed Red under his armpits and hefted him up, then sat down at the table to administer the medications. Once done he plopped a can of wet cat food into Red’s bowl, followed by a scoop of kitty kibble, then opened the fridge to pull out the roast beef.</p><p>“Maybe I should start saying that screaming doesn’t count as being good for your meds, it’s really not a habit I… what? Weren’t there two slices left this morning?” Sans looked down at the tupperware container in confusion, there was only one slice of roast beef left. Honestly it was so shrimpy it looked more like half a slice. Well it was all he had left. Sans dropped it on top of the bowl, then stepped back to let Red have at it.</p><p>Red looked at his bowl, then back up at Sans with his usual unimpressed glare.</p><p>Sans gave Red a pet, “There you go, enjoy your lunch. And have fun until work’s over.” Sans turned and started walking towards the living room, a shortcut already ready for when he crossed into it. What he didn’t expect was the furry bag of bricks that rammed into his leg right as he took his shortcut.</p><p>Sans looked down to see Red leaning against him, staring around them both in wide eyed fear. Sans couldn’t blame him, to go from Sans’s tiny, quiet apartment to Grillby’s bigger but crowded bar and grill in the middle of a rowdy lunch rush would startle anyone not prepared for it. Sans cursed and bent down to grab his cat.</p><p>Red took off, weaving between legs of both patrons and furniture alike at a speed Sans didn’t think him capable of.</p><p>Sans cursed again, turned quickly to make sure the door was closed, then turned back and tried to chase down his cat. Fortunately the dull white cone of shame was helping, both by being something easy to spot and because Red kept bumping into things with it.</p><p>“Whoa, you okay down there, buddy?”</p><p>“Wait, is that a child or a pet?”</p><p>“Sorry,” Sans called as he passed by the people who actually noticed Red, “my pet got out.”</p><p>“Oh dear! We’ll help you catch them.”</p><p>“Hey! This guy’s pet cat snuck in, help us catch it!”</p><p>An absolute ruckus followed that, everyone in the restaurant looked down in confusion, the noise jumped up as everyone started asking questions or pointing and shouting. Red hunkered down even more, somehow slinking past every hand, paw, or tentacle that reached for him.</p><p>“Red, there’s a good kitty, c’mere,” Sans desperately tried to cajole. Red wasn’t having any of it. He kept daring under tables and winding through chairs, the confusion of every single person in the restaurant either trying to grab for Red or jump out of the way wasn’t helping.</p><p>And then Red went behind the bar.</p><p>The snap and crackle of a fire was the only warning he had that Grillby had spotted the little nuisance. Sans thought he heard a few surprised curses in there too, it was hard to tell between the aggressive crackling and the rowdy yelling.</p><p>Red seemed to get the message though, and turned right back around, froze when he spotted Sans, then darted through the fire exit. Right into Grillby’s prized kitchen.</p><p>“Sans!!!”</p><p>Oh boy, that was never a good sign. Sans darted into the kitchen right after Red, though the sound of the door being pushed open again probably meant Grillby was hot on his heels. Red was huddled in a corner, though his neck was extended as he carefully sniffed the air.</p><p>Sans wasn’t going to take any chances, he grabbed onto Red’s Soul with blue magic, then shortcut right next to him and scooped the cat up. “There you are, you little nuisance.”</p><p>“Sans!!!” Grillby stormed up to them, flames waving wildly.</p><p>“Sorry, Grillby, Red snuck out and got into your place.” Sans was holding Red to his chest, head over his shoulder so he wouldn’t see an angry fire elemental bearing down on them. Red was breathing heavily and squirming in Sans arms. Sans grabbed his collar.</p><p>“Don’t pet it in my kitchen! Those things shed!”</p><p>“Right, sorry. I’ll uh… I’ll just go take him back home then.”</p><p>“You had better.”</p><p>Sans grinned sheepishly as he walked past Grillby and back out into the restaurant proper. Once there the whole place erupted into cheers.</p><p>“Oh good, you caught them!”</p><p>“Learned your lesson about keeping your pet on a leash, aye?”</p><p>“I’m just glad the poor little thing didn’t get hurt.”</p><p>Red had buried his head into the crook of Sans’s neck and was clinging to him, claws digging right through Sans’s shirt and scraping painfully against bone. Sans pet him reassuringly as he wove between the tables, intent on getting out the door and into a shortcut.</p><p>The moment they were back in the apartment Red’s head was up and looking around again.</p><p>“Yeah, brave now, huh? Ugh! You caused me a lot of trouble, you know. I don’t think I can show my face at Grillby’s again for a while.”</p><p>Red made a disappointed kind of sound.</p><p>“You should be sorry, if I can’t go there I can’t bring you home leftovers.” Sans carried the cat into his kitchen and firmly set him down in front of his bowl. “Speaking of, after that little stunt I’m not bringing you home any leftovers today, just regular cat food for dinner. I’m even out of roast beef.”</p><p>Red twined himself between Sans’s legs while looking hopefully at him, trilling sweetly.</p><p>“Nope, my mind’s made up. Eat your food, I’ll see you after work.” Sans gently pushed Red towards his bowl again, then stepped well away before shortcutting this time.</p><p>True to his word, Sans returned home only after having his own dinner. He popped back into his home and Red immediately started screaming, clearly upset that Sans was late. Well too bad, it was a pretty light punishment considering all the trouble he’d caused at lunch. “Alright, get in the kitchen and let’s get this over with.”</p><p>Red screeched and looked back as he stalkied into the kitchen in front of Sans. He was quiet and limp for his medications, like usual, then Sans plopped a can of wet food and some kitty kibble into his bowl.</p><p>Red looked down at his bowl, then back at Sans expectantly. Sans decided to make himself a cup of coffee while Red ate, except the expected loud smacking sound of of Red greedily scarfing down his food never came. Instead Red started screaming again.</p><p>“What?” Sans turned around, the smell of fresh coffee already blooming up from the maker.</p><p>Red was standing on a chair, front paws on the kitchen table as he turned a fierce glare on Sans. He shrieked again.</p><p>“I told you, pal, no treats after that stunt you pulled this afternoon.”</p><p>Red shrieked yet again.</p><p>Sans just picked up his coffee and wandered into the living room. Red would eat his food or he wouldn’t, Sans wasn’t about to force feed him.</p><hr/><p>The next morning Sans was rudely awoken by familiar shrieking. He groaned and turned over to see Red pushing his way into the room, then he picked up his cell phone to check the time. Six in the goddamned morning. On a Saturday! With another groan Sans flopped back into bed, no way was he actually getting up up at six on the weekend! Red would just have to deal with waiting a little while, Sans could ignore his screaming.</p><p>After a minute of shrieking loudly from right next to the mattress Red finally seemed to get the message and shut up. The next thing Sans knew there was a weight on his chest and fur in his face. Sans spluttered and blew the fur from his mouth, he even sat up in an instinctual attempt to get the foreign object off him.</p><p>Red let out a happy chirp and gave Sans the smuggest smirk when Sans looked at him, then he screeched again before getting up and sauntering towards the door, shrieking the whole way.</p><p>Well, it seemed Sans <b>was</b> getting up at six in the goddamned morning on a Saturday.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Blue writes a couple emails.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Wow, this story getting updated twice in a row (out of all my WiPs). Who knew having youtube throw cute cat videos at you would be so inspiring? The others are being worked on too, but this is the one that wanted to be written.</p><p>Also chapter warning: brief mentions of starvation.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Blue sighed when he saw Gabrielle’s office door, it was open slightly despite there being nothing to prop it open. He knocked as gently as possible, but it swung inward a little anyway.</p><p>“Who is there?”</p><p>“Gabrielle,” Blue said as he walked into her office, “where’s Cherry?”</p><p>“What? Has he gone out again?” She leaned over to look into the playpen, it was indeed empty of cats.</p><p>There was a chirp near Blue’s feet, he looked down to find a familiar furry friend rubbing against his leg. “Here he is!” Blue bent down and picked Cherry up, the cat happily cuddled into his hold and started purring.</p><p>“At least he has the good manners to always return.”</p><p>“That’s true, I’m very grateful for that. I still wish he wouldn’t wander off like that.”</p><p>“I also wish he would not. But right now I think you had best be going, you do not wish to be late for your appointment.”</p><p>“Right, I’ll call you later and let you know how it goes.”</p><p>“I look forward to it.”</p><p>Blue quickly moved a reluctant Cherry into his carrier, then with one final wave he left Gabrielle’s office.</p><p>The drive to the clinic was as short as ever, in almost no time at all Blue was checking Cherry in with Hickory. Blue had barely been seated when Hickory came back from the back with Ash in tow, who took Cherry and whisked him away for his check up.</p><p>Hickory took his seat at the reception desk. “So, something interesting happened last weekend.”</p><p>Blue was the only one in the waiting room, so he could only assume Hickory was talking to him. “Oh? What happened?”</p><p>“Another guy brought in a cat in Cherry’s situation.” He bent over and seemed to be digging through something beside the desk, making his next words a little hard to make out, “And I mean the exact same situation, right down to the same former owner and a matching collar. Looks just like Cherry too.”</p><p>Blue stood up and went to go stand next to the desk, “So Cherry has a uh… friend?”</p><p>“Friend, brother, fellow victim, we’re not really sure.” Hickory sat up and shrugged, then held something out to Blue. “Anyway, the other cat also got a new owner. When we told him about this unbelievable coincidence he gave us his info to pass along to you.”</p><p>Blue reached out and took the thing Hickory was offering, it turned out to be a fairly plain business card. “Oh! Okay…”</p><p>“Cats are social creatures, though not pack animals, so a reunion might be good for them. Though Nereid said not to plan for any kitty dates until after they both have a clean bill of health.”</p><p>“Ah,” Blue finally got it. He pulled out his wallet and stuck the card in. “Though with finals and graduation just around the corner I don’t think I could squeeze a kitty date in for the next few weeks anyway.”</p><p>Hickory just nodded, “I remember how crazy it was being a student, I can’t imagine what it’s like for a teacher.”</p><p>“It’s like if you have to study for an extra final after all the finals are done, since we have a time limit to turn final grades in.”</p><p>“That sounds pretty intense.”</p><p>They both stood there a moment, Blue unsure how to respond to that.</p><p>“It really is intense,” Blue finally added lamely.</p><p>“So… is Cherry still a little escape artist?”</p><p>With a relieved smile Blue launched into talking about Cherry’s latest escape escapades. “… we’ve been trying to encourage him using a litter box but he just keeps using the toilet.”</p><p>“Yeah, that sounds really frustrating, but if it’s what he’s used to it’s just going to take time.”</p><p>It’s also worrying how easily he opens the doors to get to the toilet. At home I leave it open because I don’t want him to stress, but Gabrielle has taken to locking her office and he still gets out. Though to be fair it’s the kind of lock that unlocks itself when opened from the inside.”</p><p>“Cats are determined little things,” Hickory said as if about to launch into a long story.</p><p>The door to the back opened and out came Dr. Nereid, Cherry’s familiar carrier in hand. “Well I have good news and bad news.”</p><p>“Oh dear, what’s the bad news?” Blue asked as he approached.</p><p>“Cherry hasn’t gained any weight. In fact he’s lost weight, and considering he was already underweight when you first found him that’s very, very bad. How much have you been feeding him?”</p><p>“I’ve been following the recommendations I found online, three from different veterinarians and one cat breeding website that all agreed.”</p><p>Dr. Nereid sighed, “Portion control is great and all for a cat that’s already at a healthy weight, but he’s not. You need to feed him. And even once he’s at a healthy weight so long as he’s not getting fat then you need to let this poor boy eat what he wants.”</p><p>“Yes ma’am,” Blue said sheepishly as he took Cherry’s carrier.</p><p>“Good! So the other bad news is his injured eye is still blind, at this point I’m not hopeful he’s ever going to see with it again. The good news is his infections are clearing up nicely, I’m prescribing two week’s worth of antibiotics, that’s when his next appointment will be.”</p><p>“Right between finals and graduation,” Blue said with a sigh.</p><p>“And his stitches came out without any problems, so I took his collar off.”</p><p>Blue excitedly held up the carrier and looked in, Cherry indeed was finally free of the cone of shame. “Congratulations, Cherry! It must feel so good to have that thing off!”</p><p>Cherry gave a rumbly half purr, half chirp in response.</p><p>“Yeah, he was really happy about that, purred like a well tuned car.”</p><p>“Any other news?”</p><p>“Nope, just keep giving him his meds and start actually feeding him. Oh, and no kitty dates until after all his infections clear up. Did Hickory tell you about that guy?”</p><p>“He did, I have the business card.”</p><p>“Awesome! Man, none of us could believe it! You’ll have to tell us how it goes.” Dr. Nereid slapped Blue on the back enthusiastically.</p><p>“Of course, though not before graduation at the earliest, the end of the school year is a super busy time for teachers.”</p><p>“I’ll bet! So anyway, see you in two weeks and if all goes well we won’t be seeing either of you again for six months, not for an appointment anyway. You’re always welcome to stop by for a visit.”</p><p>“We love people bringing their pets just to say hi,” Hickory chimed in.</p><p>“I’ll keep that in mind.” Blue made their next appointment, then wished them both a good evening before taking Cherry home. “I’m sorry about not feeding you enough,” he said to fill the silence in the car. He really was, he felt just awful that Cherry was going hungry. And why? Because Blue had looked up advice online? He knew better than that, and yet he’d done it anyway. Well Blue was going to fix it! But he’d have to be careful not to over correct, that was a road he didn’t need to travel down again, thanks.</p><p>But a treat when they got home wouldn’t hurt, Cherry had been good for his appointment after all.</p><p>It’s not until the next morning when Blue sat down to write out a quick email to Honey (both too busy with finals for their usual weekly phone call) that Blue really thought about getting in contact with this Sans fellow. He hadn’t told Gabrielle about it over the phone, aside from the coincidence what was there to tell? Until he contacted the other monster he wasn’t even sure if there would be a meeting. So Blue left that out of his email to Honey, keeping it just a short update on how they were both doing.</p><p>Then he sat there staring at the business card. Sans Gaster MS. There were two names every monster from the underground knew: Dreemurr and Gaster. Was this monster related to Dr. Gaster? Did he find it as heavy a burden as Gabrielle did? Is he taking good care of the other cat? Will he still want to even meed Blue? What if he wanted Cherry? What if he didn’t want the other cat?</p><p>Well Blue wouldn’t know if he didn’t contact him first. Blue opened a brand new email, put in Sans’s information, then wrote a quick introduction and sent it off. With that taken care of it was time for him to get back to grading essays. It wasn’t long before Cherry came and climbed into his lap, content to curl up and fall asleep while Blue worked.</p>
<hr/><p>Sans grumbled to himself as he set about making himself a cup of coffee. He’d gone through so much this week he was going to need to make a trip to the store for more. Red had gone through a lot of food too, so maybe he should add that to his mental shopping list. Can you get cat food at a grocery store? He’s pretty sure you can’t get coffee at a pet store. But Papyrus was pretty insistent on only using certain brands, but if he got even a whiff that Sans was planning a grocery store run he’d insist on coming along and next thing he knew his pantry was going to be full of fresh bags of flour and rice and beans and yet another spice rack, maybe some human food like eggs or milk which would just sit there unused until they go bad and need to be thrown out in a couple months. Uuuuuuuuuuuugh!</p><p>Sans loved his baby brother, but there were limits.</p><p>The coffee finished dripping. Sans picked up his cup and took it out to the living room, ready to just relax for the day. He started with a leisurely scroll, or was about to when he noticed an email notification. Weird, he’d set his up so work related emails didn’t give notifications and spam went directly to his spam box. Sans curiously opened the app to find a single email waiting for him from an address he didn’t recognize, but with a very informative subject line: <b>Our Cats May Be Brothers</b>.</p><p>That was strangely formal. But hey, at least the other guy finally got in contact, it only took a whole week. He opened the email to find an equally formal letter.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Dear Mr. Gaster MS,<br/>
Hello, my name is Blue Swapson. The kind employees at Deltarune Animal Hospital told me that you found an abandoned cat that is in a suspiciously similar situation to my own cat and provided me with the business card you left behind. I am contacting you through my personal email in the hopes that our cats may meet again, though that won’t be possible for a few weeks yet. I look forward to receiving a reply from you.<br/>
Kindest Regards,<br/>
Blue Swapson</p>
</blockquote><p>Well wasn’t that just the fanciest email Sans had ever gotten? He’d read peer reviewed studies less formal than that. Hell, he’d <em>written</em> essays less formal than that! Well if that wasn’t a puzzle and a half. A quick search of Blue’s name brought up a LinkedIn profile and a school faculty page, Papyrus would be proud. Sans laughed to himself, an English teacher! That explained everything.</p><p>Red came sauntering into the room, still licking his chops, then plopped himself down on a bed to start industriously licking the inside of his cone. It was too perfect, Sans took a quick video, then attached it to his reply:</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Hey u can just call me sand the doc said they couldn’t meet till after she gave them both a. Lean bill of health so I guess that won’t be for a while though I though maybe a week or 2 more but for now ha e this video of red cleaning g himself isn’t it hilarious?</p>
</blockquote><p>That taken care of, he leaned back and took a sip as he started browsing through some of his favorite websites. Maybe this Blue guy would even write him back soon, who knew? After a while Red surprised Sans by jumping onto the couch and settling down within arm’s reach.</p><p>“Hey there, buddy. Gonna spend the day with me?” He put down his coffee and started petting Red. The cat ignored him, or maybe he just accepted the attention. He wasn’t biting or anything, so Sans took that as acceptance. He went back to scrolling, his phone in one hand while the other idly ran through Red’s shorn fur. It was a pretty nice morning.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sans has a visit from his brother, bonding ensues.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sans spent his morning just dicking around on his phone, content to relax and fall down a youtube video rabbit hole. It took Red yowling for him to realize just how much time had slipped by, “Oh man, is it lunch time already?”</p><p>Red made a grumpy noise and lashed his tail.</p><p>“Alright, I get the message.” Sans pocketed his phone and stood up, then shuffled into the kitchen. After giving Red his medicine and lunch, Sans started rifling through his cupboards. He should have plenty of leftovers to keep himself fed through the week and beyond if he doesn’t feel like bothering with a lunch crowd. Sadly no Grillby’s, but he did have the next best thing. He pulled down a grease stained bag from a monster owned burger joint.</p><p>“Huh, coulda sworn I still had a whole half a burger and some fries left.” There were still a few shoestring fries half sticking out from under what seemed to only be a couple bites of burger. Well it could be he’d had a midnight snack and forgotten, or maybe he’d left less than he remembered. It wasn’t enough for more than a little snack though, so Sans pulled down the bag next to it: a sandwich and chisps from a monster deli. Again there wasn’t as much of the sandwich left as he thought there should be, and there were significantly fewer chisps. He started pulling down the rest, only two more bags really, and looked through them. They each still had some left, but were definitely smaller portions than they should be. The only thing left untouched was a hot dog with all the fixings he got from a monster food cart, the gal does a meal deal of two hot dogs, a bowl of chili, and a can of soda. Sans usually ate just one hot dog and half his chili, then saved the rest for later.</p><p>At least he’d found something as it should be. Then he opened the chili container, there was maybe a spoonful left.</p><p>Weird. Really weird. Was someone eating his food? “Red, are you eating my leftovers?”</p><p>Red looked up briefly, licking his chops, then went back to loudly inhaling his food.</p><p>No, it couldn’t be Red. He was a cat, he didn’t even have hands! To get at any of the food he probably would have left the cupboard wide open, shredded the bag and wrapper everywhere, and not left any food behind.</p><p>Sans grabbed the hot dog, the chili, and what few chisps were left, shoved everything else into one bag and back in the cupboard, then sat down to eat his lunch. Of course the moment Red finished cleaning his bowl he hopped up onto the table and stuck his nose in Sans’s lunch. Literally. Sans shoved the rest of the hot dog in his mouth, “Nope!”</p><p>Red turned his attention to the rest. He stuck his nose in the chili bowl, thankfully already empty, then made a very displeased face and quickly backed away.</p><p>“What’s wrong? Too spicy for you?” Sans scooped up the few chisps left and dumped them in his mouth too.</p><p>Red sneezed, pawed at his face, then jumped down from the table and ran from the kitchen. Yeah, Red definitely wasn’t the one to eat his food. Maybe Sans just had eaten more than he’d thought? There wasn’t anyone else that could even get to his food.</p><p>Red gave a happy trill from the living room. Curious, Sans wadded up his trash and tossed it at the garbage can, but before he could get up to go investigate there was a knock at the door. Weird, Sans wasn’t expecting anyone. He went out into the living room to find Red already waiting by the front door, tail high in the air as he turned in a circle and gave another happy trill. Sans scooped him up so he wouldn’t make a mad dash out the door, then opened it.</p><p>“Brother! How wonderful to see you answer the door on my first knock!”</p><p>“It’s Saturday,” Sans said with some confusion.</p><p>“It certainly is,” Papyrus replied happily.</p><p>“You usually visit on Sundays.”</p><p>“Yes, but some purchases arrived and I’ve come to install them.”</p><p>“I didn’t purchase anything?????” Sans looked at the bulky boxes floating serenely behind Papyrus.</p><p>“Of course not, I purchased them.”</p><p>Sans shrugged and backed up, finally letting Papyrus in. Sans eyed the boxes as they trailed after Papyrus, but they were just generic shipping boxes so they didn’t tell him anything. “What’d you get?”</p><p>“Gifts for Red! Just a little something to make him more comfortable. I’d have just had them sent here, but I doubted you’d install them properly. Speaking of Red…”</p><p>With the door closed again, Red took that as his cue to squirm out of Sans’s arms and go running up to Papyrus with happy, eager trills.</p><p>“Well hello to you too, Red. It’s good to… Sans. He’s still wearing the cone.”</p><p>“Yeah, his next vet visit isn’t until next weekend.”</p><p>“They said he could take his cone off after a few days.”</p><p>Red mewled pitifully and wound around Papyrus’s ankles shamelessly begging for pets. Papyrus picked Red up as the boxes settled into a pile next to the couch. Papyrus sat down and started ruffling through Red’s fur, Red huffed and looked pleadingly up at Sans.</p><p>“His injuries seem fine,” Papyrus announced happily, “and none of the prescriptions are applied topically, we should take this off.”</p><p>Sans just shrugged, “Sure, sounds good.”</p><p>Papyrus deftly removed the cone and set it aside. Red immediately started licking his shoulder.</p><p>“And he’s already cleaning himself, I’m so proud! You know Sans, they say pets and owners start taking after each other, you could learn a lesson or two from your cat.”</p><p>Sans nudged one of the boxes with a slippered foot, “So what’s in these anyway?”</p><p>“I’m so glad you decided on that as your convenient subject change!” Papyrus picked Red up and set him aside before bouncing up off the couch. Red just went back to furiously licking the closest body part, which this time was a paw. “Since most cats like being high up and since your apartment is so small I decided the best way to give him more space is to let him use the space someone so vertically challenged as you simply doesn’t use.”</p><p>“I’m not <b>that</b> much shorter than you, bro.”</p><p>Papyrus was too busy tearing into the top box to bother with his usual snarky come backs. Inside the box was… another box. This one very colorful with a picture of a cat sitting in some sort of bubble capsule thing and lots of writing all over the whole thing. “Wall mounted cat shelves and cat beds! Enough for him to go around the whole living room without touching the floor. We can use your couch and/or his cat trees as the way up.”</p><p>“Alright, I’m down for that.”</p><p>“Great! You can start by helping me open all these boxes and then assembling everything inside them.”</p><p>Sans sighed, “I knew you’d say that.” He flopped onto the floor and pulled over the weird capsule thing Papyrus had already pulled out of its shipping box. The label declared it a wall mounted floating cat bed, neat.</p><p>“I also got a few other things,” Papyrus said as he started on the next box, easily cutting through the tape. “When I shared pictures of him with my followers my numbers suddenly spiked, so I’m sharing the wealth with Red.”</p><p>“That seems fair. Heh, so your fans like Red?”</p><p>“It seems humans are very fond of their furry companions! Also I may have promised to take a video of Red getting to play on his new shelving as a reward for my followers’ generosity.”</p><p>“That’s cool, so long as they don’t get my address.”</p><p>“Of course not! I know it can be hard having someone as famous as The Great Papyrus for a brother, but I will always protect your privacy.”</p><p>“Thanks, I really appreciate it.”</p><p>They fell into much lighter chatter after that, Papyrus happily going on about how his week had been and how all his friends were doing while prodding Sans about his own week.</p><p>Sans was happy to talk, even taking some time to gripe about Red’s unplanned trip to Grillby’s and all the grief that caused him. “… so now I can never show my face there again,” he finished with a dramatic sigh.</p><p>“I’m sure the shame will wear off quickly, it always does with you.”</p><p>“Awwww… thanks, bro. That means a lot.”</p><p>“Not that it would be a terrible shame if you never went back to that grease pit.”</p><p>“Not all of us can live exclusively off Muffet’s.”</p><p>“Don’t be silly! I also eat MTT Brand<sup>TM</sup> Meal Replacements, now be a good brother and hand me the flat head screwdriver.”</p><p>“Uhhh… I don’t have it.”</p><p>“What do you mean you don’t have it?”</p><p>“I just have a Phillips over here.”</p><p>There was a high pitched bark from behind Papyrus, he twisted around with an annoyed screech. “That Annoying Dog has it!”</p><p>A little white fluff ball with beady eyes and a tiny wisp of a tail wagging a mile a minute did indeed have a screwdriver in his slobbery mouth.</p><p>“Hey, Chaos, haven’t seen you in a while.” Sans waved at the dog.</p><p>“Sans! Don’t just sit there, help me catch that dastardly canine!”</p><p>“That’s no way to talk about your best friend.”</p><p>Papyrus was too busy chasing Chaos around the room to bother listening. Red, who had been cautiously sniffing at the boxes, quickly jumped out of the pair’s way and ran up his tallest tree. From his new vantage point the cat stared down at the mayhem unfolding below him. Papyrus and Chaos both started bending space around them, Chaos to vibrate excitedly and jitter away from Papyrus’s hands, Papyrus so he could slide around the room or air run well above the boxes and half built shelves scattered over the floor.</p><p>Sans sat back and watched them for a bit, then the sheer amount of magic being thrown around along with all the energetic running tired him out just to look at. He decided going back to calmly putting the shelves and such together would be less tiring.</p><p>Eventually Chaos decided he’d had enough and came trotting over to Sans with a bone attack in his mouth. “You two have fun?” Sans asked.</p><p>Chaos flopped over onto his side and happily gnawed on his pilfered attack.</p><p>Sans looked up to see Papyrus sitting down to get back to work with a triumphant gleam in his eye sockets and a screwdriver in hand. “Yeah,” Sans said as he started scratching Chaos behind the ears, “you two had fun. Good dog.”</p><p>Chaos rolled onto his back, tail already wagging as he whined happily.</p><p>“Guess it’s time for the union mandated belly rub break.”</p><p>Chaos’s tail sped up to light speed once Sans started rubbing his belly.</p><p>The rest of the afternoon went by quickly as Sans and Papyrus worked. Chaos lived up to his much deserved nickname by getting underfoot every chance he got, literally when Papyrus stood up to start arranging the new accessories on the living room walls.</p><p>“Really! You’re going to trip me when I’m trying to put these up?”</p><p>Chaos barked and jittered mostly in place.</p><p>Papyrus ignored his friend and instead moved the various shelves, toys, and cat beds around in different configurations. “I don’t know, I just can’t seem to get them to look right.”</p><p>“Maybe try moving the trees too?” Sans shuffled over to the tree Red was on and picked him up, then shuffled over to the couch so they could sit out of Papyrus’s way while he continued to hem and haw.</p><p>“That’s a good idea, thank you Sans.”</p><p>The three cat trees were lifted and joined in with the shelves in being arranged and rearranged until Papyrus was satisfied. Chaos hopped up onto the couch and vibrated over to Sans’s side, close enough to be within sniffing distance of Red.</p><p>Red huddled warily in Sans’s lap, a low growl started up.</p><p>“Hey now, none of that. Chaos is a friend.”</p><p>Chaos danced in place, even spinning around as he yipped excitedly, then stretched out his neck to delicately sniff at Red.</p><p>Rather than swat at him like Sans expected, Red also stretched his neck a little to sniff at Chaos, ears flicking back and forth.</p><p>Chaos spun in place again, then vibrated even more intensely as he yipped happily.</p><p>“Awww… looks like Chaos and Red made friends.”</p><p>“What!?” Papyrus turned around, hammer in hand. “And I missed it? Did you record it?”</p><p>“Kinda have my hands full here,” Sans looked down at where he had his hands firmly holding Red in place to keep him out of the way.</p><p>“Well, we shall simply have to take pictures of them being friends instead. With your permission of course.”</p><p>Chaos yipped happily, tail wagging faster than even magical eyes could track.</p><p>“Right, but that’ll have to wait until after I get this astounding set of shelves for Red completely set up.” Papyrus turned around and promptly went back to it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><div class="children module" id="children">
  <b class="heading">Works inspired by this one:</b>
  <ul>
    <li>
        <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29992692">A Furry Surprise</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nanenna/pseuds/Nanenna">Nanenna</a>
    </li>
  </ul>
</div></div></div>
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